5 common mistakes people make when claiming self defence

You’re in a bar fight, you’re defending yourself, and you acted completely, in your mind of self-defense, and all of a sudden, the police show up and charge you with assault. How the heck did that happen? It often boils down to the five common mistakes people make in self-defense and how to avoid it. We’ll talk a little bit about that today.

I’m going to give you a few examples today, but I want to talk about the five common mistakes people make in claiming self-defense. First and foremost, mistake number one, using excessive force. Let’s first of all look at self-defense. What is it? Well, someone’s assaulting you or threatening to assault you. You act to defend yourself. That is to protect yourself, and your force is reasonable in the circumstances. That’s section 34 in the criminal code.

So what it doesn’t allow is you using excessive force. And let’s take a look at an example. Someone pushes you in a bar and stands back, and you start hammering, flurries of 10, 20 punches, clearly excessive force. Another example is, a person pushes you and walks away, you chase them down and beat them. That’s not self-defense. You’re entitled to push them away. You’re entitled to use some degree of proportionate force, but it has to be reasonable to circumstance. So that’s the first mistake, common mistake that many people make in claiming self-defense. Clearly, excessive force is not allowed.

How about the next one? This is a doozy, continuing after the threat or assault ends. And that is to say, you’re at a party, fight breaks out between you and another gentleman. He threw a punch at you. You threw a punch back. He retreats to the other side of the room, It’s over. The threat’s gone. Now you can’t then go and pursue him and start grabbing a ball pad or punching him, or running after him in that situation, or running after someone who’s run away after you’ve already punched them. It’s over. You should call the police, by the way, you could do a citizen’s arrest, but that’s a delicate situation. If a person punches you, you try to run them down and haul them down. You could get charged yourself. I’d recommend just phoning the police.

How about the third common mistake, being the aggressor. So you’re in a bar, you’re the one who starts the fight. You’re throwing a flurry of punches, you think you’re going to take out this small guy, and he turns out to be an MMA fighter. Well, guess what? They’re going to defend themselves, and you’re going to get the worst of it, and they’re allowed to use reasonable force. I mean, if you punch them once, and they punch you one back, and break your jaw, well, you’re the one who is the aggressor. You can’t claim self-defense, because you were the aggressor.

Now, in that situation, if that MMA fighter continues the assault beyond the proportionality about it, beyond reasonable force, then you would be entitled to defend yourself, but you’re going to be guilty of the original assault, but the subsequent assault, where you grab a bat or a knife to defend yourself, because they’re going to kill you because they’re an MMA fighter and they’re punching your face viciously. It’s a delicate situation. You’re entitled to defend yourself at that point, but don’t get in that situation because it’s hard to pull off. Because in court, once you’re the aggressor, many judges or juries are going to find “Hey, you got what’s coming to you”, and you can’t then later claim, because that person escalated beyond belief, that you’re now entitled to defend yourself, even though you technically are.

The Criminal Code allows you to defend yourself. Just don’t start the fight. Don’t use that common mistake, because you’re going to lose that case in court, you might win. Don’t take the risk. Stay safe. Don’t be assaulted.

How about this one? A person attacks you, and you punch them pretty hard and you break their nose. Okay? Now you can probably know in that situation that many of those people and you did it in self-defense, they punched you once you reacted instinctively in self-defense to protect yourself. You know, there’s a right to silence in Canada. You don’t have to make a complaint. But that’s a situation that is fraught with difficulty, because often the person who started the fight with the broken nose, they might get the jump on you. Call the police. You’re going to appear as the aggressor. You don’t call the police, the police show up and you get charged. What the heck? I was just defending myself. It’s a delicate situation for a lawyer to advise you of this, but I’d have to weigh each situation, but I’ll say, maybe you want to call the police in that situation to protect yourself. Just say, look, hey, if you don’t want to lay a charge, don’t say, “look, I was protecting myself, this is what happened”. You don’t have to say a lot, at least you’ve made the complaint, or you choose to make a more serious complaint, but I don’t know if I would, you weren’t hurt, you broke the person’s nose, you acted in self-defense, but you’re getting your version in a short way before the police. But I wouldn’t necessarily give your full version of events to the police in that situation, unless you actually wanted to make a complaint about why the guy wound up with a broken nose.

The fifth situation, this is the right to silence. This is the delicate balance. The fifth common mistake is talking too much, so you’re in that party fight or bar fight, the police show up. There are other witnesses. The police ask your version of events, you might want to exercise your right to remain silent, because I’ll tell you why, you think you’re going to talk your way out of the situation. You wind up breaking a person’s nose. You didn’t make the complaint initially, the police show up. They’re looking to charge someone. In that situation, I might just say, “look, I acted to protect and defend myself. I’m exercising my right to silence. I want to speak to a lawyer.” That’s up to you. Of course, you don’t have to do that, but don’t necessarily think you’re going to talk yourself out of the situation. Now, you’ve had a few drinks, you’re claiming self-defense, you’re giving a 30 minute statement to the police on the spot, when your adrenaline is going, do you really think you’re going to be able to tell that same, even though you’re telling the truth, do you really think you’re going to be able to tell the same version of events the same way one year later at a trial? Good luck. I have videos on that, the most truthful witness in the world cannot keep their story straight in that situation, and you’re going to get torn apart by a lawyer. So this is why we have a right to silence. So those are the top five mistakes that people make, using excessive force, continuing after the threat ends, being the aggressor, not calling the police right away in certain situations, at least. Although, if that’s a delicate mistake, you have to weigh it and talking to the police too much when they show up when you didn’t make the complaint. So there you have it. What’s my advice to you? Stay out of fights, stay safe, know your rights and follow this YouTube channel, and you will know your rights.