assault/family violence citation

[kwinchester]

Jurisdiction

Texas

I received a citation for the above after picking up my daughter at her dads. His 19 year old niece was there, she called him and said I was in the house. I had been in the house before with her there and many many occasions without incident. He came home and grabbed my throat, my arms, and drug me to the ground. I screamed for him to let go and get off of me, but he would not stop. I screamed for help for my daughter who is 10 to call 911, to get help. His niece just stood there and did nothing. My daughter tried to push him off of me and he pushed her into a wall where she was bruised. My little girl also yelled for the niece to call 911 and give her the phone, the niece would not. He would not stop. I was trying to get him off of me. He drug me down the sidewalk. The police gave me and him a citation. I asked why I was being given the citation and he responded with he has a few marks on him. I was on the ground in a dress, defending myself. The officer told me to take it up with the Judge. I went to the Dr. he wrote a report, took pictures, called CPS. The officers report is a joke. Can I file assault against him myself? The niece is suppose to watch after my children, and she did nothing. What can I do? Please help.

 

[army judge]

The niece owed you, nor your child any legal duty to act.
You're lucky you received a "cite & release", rather than "an arrest & book" result.

I suggest you arrange the pick up and drop off of the child at a nearby police station in the lobby.

It's unwise to invite yourself (or trespass) into someone's home absent his or her invitation.

The matter will get resolved before a judge or JP.
The true victim here is a child that was forced to watch the two people she loves the most behave like wild beasts.
The child should receive an evaluation by a child psychologist to ensure there will be no long lasting mental impact to her.

Texas doesn't allow citizen arrests
You can sue him civilly for any physical damages and out of pocket medical costs.
I don't see that being successful, but you can file.
Why?
The police obviously believed the was mutual combat, and you were somewhere you Haden been invited.

In the interim, I suggest you discuss this fiasco with your defense attorney. You need to minimize the damage, before CPS gets wind of this and makes big trouble for you and dad.

You also need to never go inside of dad's home, EVER!!!!

 

[kwinchester]

The niece owed you, nor your child any legal duty to act.
You're lucky you received a "cite & release", rather than "an arrest & book" result.

I suggest you arrange the pick up and drop off of the child at a nearby police station in the lobby.

It's unwise to invite yourself (or trespass) into someone's home absent his or her invitation.

The matter will get resolved before a judge or JP.
The true victim here is a child that was forced to watch the two people she loves the most behave like wild beasts.
The child should receive an evaluation by a child psychologist to ensure there will be no long lasting mental impact to her.

Texas doesn't allow citizen arrests
You can sue him civilly for any physical damages and out of pocket medical costs.
I don't see that being successful, but you can file.
Why?
The police obviously believed the was mutual combat, and you were somewhere you Haden been invited.

In the interim, I suggest you discuss this fiasco with your defense attorney. You need to minimize the damage, before CPS gets wind of this and makes big trouble for you and dad.

You also need to never go inside of dad's home, EVER!!!!

 

[kwinchester]

I didn't trespass. I have been invited into that house since this all began. Secondly, the niece was hired to watch my kids and make sure that nothing happened to them, so she did owe a legal duty act.
Third she is an adult, and should know better. I have NEVER had any sort of altercation before.
Furthermore, he knew I was coming, and was perfectly fine with it. I even produced the text messages from him. Also, who are you to say I acted as a "wild beast?" I don't consider a woman unarmed, not even caring her cell phone and being pushed to the ground and knocked around, then drug on her ass outside in front of her child, yelling to call 911 or someone to help me.....beastly. I'm pretty sure if you saw my injuries, you'd apologize for jumping the gun on my character and my actions. As for my attorney, he is appalled at the county, and what little minded, small town police can end up being. Guess it was too much paperwork for him to do the "right" thing. They even admitted I was INVITED IN!!!
And just fyi, I personally made the 911 phone call and I called CPS after he shoved my daughter. They looked it over and agreed with me.

You don't EVER knock a Mother out and down to the floor because you don't have SELF CONTROL either!!!!!!

 

[ElleMD]

You are an adult and should know much better. Babysitters do not have a legal duty to keep a child's parents from acting like idiots. Once you and the father were there, she was no longer babysitting anyway. She had no obligation to get involved, call the police because you told her to, or anything else at all. She is blameless.

If you had been invited in the home and he out of the clear blue attacked you physically, you can file charges in civil court for your damages. You can not force the police nor the DA to take any particular action. It sounds like it was not clear who was responsible for what so the police cited you both and you both get your day in court to explain to a judge what really transpired. That is a judge's job, not an officer's.

 

[kwinchester]

She is an adult as well. Not only is it her job to take care of my children, she is their cousin and lives in the house. So if you are that unintelligent enough to think that she is blameless....I'll send her to watch your children. Hopefully there won't be any problems of sort. When a 10 year old knows right from wrong and a 19 year old girl doesn't....then there is something wrong.

I guess if she had a bad day and a child was drowning and she didn't "FEEL" the need to assist and said "no ma'am" you your child, I'm sure that you would be perfectly fine with it. Then again, remember she has no obligations to YOU what so ever, even if YOU ARE THERE!

 

[ElleMD]

Whether you think she has a moral obligation or a family obligation to step in, she does not have a legal one. She wouldn't be legally responsible if the child drown either if she wasn't the one who held her underwater or made it happen. That does not change because you want someone to blame. It is the PARENTS who are responsible for making sure their children are not subject to any behavior they do not approve of, not some 19 year old cousin called in to babysit. The child wasn't in mortal danger. It isn't clear if you were or not but there just isn't an affirmative duty to seek help or interfere in a fight between two adults unless one is in law enforcement. Even then, whether to intervene and how is a judgment call. For all you know if she had tried to call the police, he would have turned on her. You are just not being reasonable in blaming this 19 year old for your predicament. It is not a crime to fail to call 911 and you can not sue her successfully for not doing so. She had no more duty to act than any other random stranger or neighbor who happened by.

If you do not feel comfortable having her babysit, don't ask her in the future.

It isn't clear why you were in the house so long. He wasn't there so could not agree to allow you to be in the house. If the niece had time to call him and he to arrive, you had to have been there for quite some time. Why would you not have left as soon as the niece either asked you to, called him, or he arrived at the house and was unhappy you were in his home? There is no excuse for fighting ever but there is a lot missing from your version of events.

 

[army judge]

I didn't trespass. I have been invited into that house since this all began. Secondly, the niece was hired to watch my kids and make sure that nothing happened to them, so she did owe a legal duty act.
Third she is an adult, and should know better. I have NEVER had any sort of altercation before.
Furthermore, he knew I was coming, and was perfectly fine with it. I even produced the text messages from him. Also, who are you to say I acted as a "wild beast?" I don't consider a woman unarmed, not even caring her cell phone and being pushed to the ground and knocked around, then drug on her ass outside in front of her child, yelling to call 911 or someone to help me.....beastly. I'm pretty sure if you saw my injuries, you'd apologize for jumping the gun on my character and my actions. As for my attorney, he is appalled at the county, and what little minded, small town police can end up being. Guess it was too much paperwork for him to do the "right" thing. They even admitted I was INVITED IN!!!
And just fyi, I personally made the 911 phone call and I called CPS after he shoved my daughter. They looked it over and agreed with me.

You don't EVER knock a Mother out and down to the floor because you don't have SELF CONTROL either!!!!!!

You're not required to explain or clarify for my benefit.
I provided you with my interpretation of the law.
The police officer cited both of you, so you can tell your story to the judge.
I suspect you'll be surprised at the outcome.
I won't spoil that for you, and there is no need for this thread to linger and lumber on, so I'm closing it before the insults and fighting spread to our quiet, civil forum.