Quote Originally Posted by Brick
As far as this goes....not really. Had they gotten out of the car and come towards you sure. Nobody is going to kick your ass when you're each sitting in two different cars and you're going to have a hard time explaining how you were defending yourself spraying through two open windows at a man sitting in a car. To be defending yourself I would say that the other person would have at least had to commit simple assault first. Definition to clarify...

16-5-20. Simple assault


(a) A person commits the offense of simple assault when he or she either:

(1) Attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or

(2) Commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.

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BTW: I'll take a CS chamber over being sprayed with OC any day of the week.


(2) Commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.

key word reasonable. IE you have to make your point to a jury. If a violent driving person, that then threatens me with violence (although within his car) is plenty of reason to believe its a credible threat. And retaliating with OC spray to prevent further harm to both parties would be acceptable. At least that would be my case.

Have to remember every time you see the word "reasonable" in law code, you are immediately in a huge gray area.

And yes a defense for battery is assault by the other party.