a slap is still physical harm and can do alot of damage, and it still is a crime, you are entitled by law to use force in such an instance, whether it be a punch a slap a kick or even a piece of 2x4, he was being physically threatened and he retaliated, with what is in my opinion reasonable force after the women attacks him.Bara_no_Hime said:Again, I didn't watch the video, but my point is a Slap is less than a Punch. If he was only slapped, then, if he punches, that's escalation, not rational or justifiable defense. So him trying to punch her for her slapping him is not self defense, even by your definition above. He could SLAP her back, but not punch her back.ramboondiea said:this isn't even remotely true, not under any legal jurisdiction, self-defence is the application of justifiable force against an unjust threat. this is the underlying rational of the defence and is pretty much the same where ever you look. so in that her attacking him and him being literally surrounded his actions were totally justified
And if the slap/punch were between her and him, then him being surrounded doesn't have anything to do with it. If he tried to punch the people surrounding him, then that's different, but that's not the impression I got from the other comments here on the Escapist. Again, since I'm ONLY replying to the comments here on the Escapist, I may have an incorrect impression of events, but that's all I've got to work with at the moment.
My point is, getting slapped isn't anything that needs "self defense" - it's not a threat to one's person. The rest, maybe, but a slap? No.
also I will give you a quick overview of what sin the video for context: the man is being held against a wall by one of the men who later attacks him, and by held i mean elbow across the neck, he continues to gob of at the group until the women hits him in the face, at which point he lashes out to hit her backwards where the group that was surrounding him moves in to beat him down.
Now I don't know how the situation escalated, and i do believe them man shouldn't have been gobbing off to the group, it was certainly a poor decision on his part, but they were no way justified in what they did, and his punch was completely justified