Question about US law – choke vs shove

[davycripplecreek]

If someone pushes you vs trying to front choke you, can one legally put as much in his defense against the shove as he does against the choke?
In my thinking, the choke he can kill you but the shove is just a shove.
What say ye?

[rickprado]

Re: Question about US law – choke vs shove

It’s assault either way, the amount of force used to defend is up to you and should be enough to nuetralize a threat.

I shove can escalate, it can also stop at a shove. A choke is much worse and should be dealt with accordingly.

[maddogmean]

Re: Question about US law – choke vs shove

I asked an instructor about defending the classic tough-guy shove. Most fights start out that way. He said “you shouldn’t be that close in the first place.” Made sense.

[davycripplecreek]

Re: Question about US law – choke vs shove

Yeah, be nice if it never happened, but sometimes you can’t avoid it.
Asked my instructor – he’s an ex cop – said you don’t know what the bad guy’s going to do, so deal with it appropriately and basically do whatever you need to do to protect yourself.

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