6.06.020 Assault

An assault is any willful and unlawful attempt or offer, with force or violence, to hurt the person of another. It is any act of such a nature as to create an apprehension of a battery. Words alone are not enough to constitute an assault. The apprehension must be one which would normally be aroused in the mind of a reasonable person. Assault or battery is justifiable in the following cases.

(a) When necessarily committed by a police officer in the performance of any legal duty, or by any other person assisting him or acting by his direction;

(b) When necessarily committed by a person in arresting one who has committed any felony and delivering him to a public officer competent to receive him in custody;

(c) When committed either by the party about to be injured, or by any other person in his aid or defense in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his person, or any trespass or other unlawful interference with real or personal property in his lawful possession, provided the force or violence used is not more than sufficient to prevent such offense;

(d) When committed by a parent or the authorized agency of any parent, or by an guardian or teacher in the exercise of a lawful authority to restrain or correct the child, ward, or scholar, provided restraint or correction has been rendered necessary by the refusal to obey the lawful command of such parent, and the force or violence used is reasonable in manner and moderate in degree;

(e) When committed by any person in preventing an idiot, lunatic, insane person, or other person of unsound mind, including persons temporarily or partially deprived of reason, from committing an act dangerous to himself or to another, or enforcing such restraint as is necessary for the protection of his person or for his restoration to health, during such period only as shall be necessary to obtain legal authority for the restraint or custody of his person.