Legal Definitions - assaulter

An assaulter is an individual who commits the legal offense of assault. This offense generally involves intentionally causing another person to reasonably believe they are about to experience immediate harmful or offensive physical contact, or in some jurisdictions, actually inflicting such contact without consent.

Here are some examples illustrating the term:

• Scenario: During a heated argument in a public park, one person suddenly lunges forward with a clenched fist towards another, stopping just inches from their face. The second person flinches and recoils, genuinely believing they were about to be struck.

  Explanation: The individual who lunged with the clenched fist is the assaulter. Their actions intentionally created a reasonable apprehension of immediate physical harm in the other person, even though no actual physical contact occurred.

• Scenario: A frustrated driver, after a minor fender bender, gets out of their car and shoves the other driver forcefully, causing them to stumble backward.

  Explanation: The frustrated driver is the assaulter because they intentionally applied unwanted physical force to the other person. This non-consensual physical contact constitutes an assault (often referred to as battery, which is frequently grouped with assault in legal definitions).

• Scenario: A person at a concert, annoyed by someone standing in front of them, intentionally throws a half-full plastic bottle of water over their head, striking them on the back of the neck.

  Explanation: The person who threw the bottle is the assaulter. By intentionally causing the bottle to strike the other concert-goer, they committed an act of unwanted physical contact, which falls under the definition of assault.