What the hell did you just shoot me with?

[Hon'ya-chan]

Going out for the 4,309th time to the waste can outside of the store to dump some abandoned Jamba Juice cups when out of the blue, I feel water dribble onto my chest area. I look up thinking that a fire sprinkler or a water pipe had burst, and as I look around, I see where the source of the water has come from.

A guy, in his 40's, with a kid on his shoulders, holding a water gun.

Okay, if that hasn't settled in, lemme explain that again:

A 40-ish guy holding a water gun, with his little 2 or 3 yr old rugrat on his shoulders.

It takes a few seconds to realize that this guy has used a water pistol to shoot water at me. Then the fun starts:

Me: What the hell did you just do?
Guy: It's hot, you should cool off. *squirts me again with the water gun, now my bra is showing thru my shirt*
Me: GIMME THAT GUN!! *grabs the gun and forces it away*
*At this point, my yelling of GUN has caused a minor panic where several shoppers have started to flee, while one of my co-workers, who's walking after taking a lunch break, sees me and rushes over to help.*
Guy: Leggo, I got my kid on my shoulders!!
Co-Worker: Drop the Gun then!!

A slight struggle ensues, where i'm trying to yank the water gun out of his hands, my co-worker is trying to grab the kid from this guys neck, and he's crying bloody murder and worrying more about his kid, and the kid is screaming like a banshee. Fortunately for the situation, the trifecta of Cops (who ironically were at the Starbucks across the mall proper responding to a similar incident where a Tourist was water pistoled by the same guy) Mall Security (who were trying to search for the guy in the hopes that he was still on mall property and tell him to leave) and LP (whom is alerted by another of my co-workers who sees the fight outside of the store and rushes out) stops the situation from escalating further.

Long story short: Guy is arrested by the cops for Sexual Harassment (My charges) and Assault (The other person he water pistoled was at the forehead, not the clothing), Kid is taken by Child Services, and everyone now knows that I wear a 40C black bra from Victoria's Secret.

[Falconess]

Can't say I would have tried to take the gun away from him, as that could possibly be filed as assult, on you. However, I most certainly would have alerted the authorities. I hate it when pervs come to visit. Glad to hear he got arrested and the child taken by Child Services.

[BaristaTrav]

Long story short: Guy is arrested by the cops for Sexual Harassment (My charges) and Assault (The other person he water pistoled was at the forehead, not the clothing), Kid is taken by Child Services, and everyone now knows that I wear a 40C black bra from Victoria's Secret.

Awesome!

The uhh.. first part that is. No seriously. I know there are plenty of people out there who just never got past basic social skills 101. And I also realize these people are free to procreate (and do they ever). But what kind of lame-ass dickwad a) either doesn't know when they are crossing the (what should be bloody obvious) line, or b) don't care. Hopefully this guy learns how perhaps not to be a complete tool in the future. And maybe his kid will be lucky enough not to grow up as one too.

Can't say I would have tried to take the gun away from him, as that could possibly be filed as assult, on you. .

oh please. He's lucky that's the worst she did.

[Crazeyal]

Busy day!!

Congrats on getting an idiot taken care of!

[crazylegs]

Can't say I would have tried to take the gun away from him, as that could possibly be filed as assult, on you.

Until the water pistol is taken off him how do you know its not acid or bleach in there? (I've known both to happen sadly).

I say taking it off him is justified.

[Falconess]

Well, when you consider getting "assult" filed against you, while working/on the clock, is a fireable offense, she's lucky he didn't file against her. When I was living in Missouri, something very similar to this happened as the sub joint I worked at. My coworker was fired because the person she tried to take the slingshot away from, filed assult charges on her. He was shooting raisins at her chest, trying to get them to fall into her cleavage. Now, maybe it's just a Missouri thing, but yes, that kind of thing can be turned on you, if you're not careful/lucky. Like I said, though, I'm glad everything went well for Hon'ya-Chan

crazylegs, I do understand what you're saying, and I agree. However, if it had been acid or something harmful, getting the water gun away from him would not have been her first priority...getting to the first aid kit, and taking care of the melting flesh would have been. Leaving the aprehending of the offender, to coworkers, and the calling of authorities.

[marty]

I somehow don't see how any charge of assault by that guy would ever uphold in any courtroom. And I think that getting an assault charge filed against you while on the clock being a fireable offense is absolutely ridiculous, particularly if the charges, in the end, are thrown out, and that I'd sue the crap out of a place if they fired me for that (you know, going along with the whole innocent until proven guilty thing and not firing someone for something they weren't guilty of).

I'd say it's more than logical to consider that self defense. To be convicted of a crime one most have intent to commit the crime. If the action is taken against another to prohibit the other from doing further harm to one's person, I don't think that can be considered intent to commit the crime of assault when they assaulted you first.

...growing up in a house full of lawyers is useful, sometimes.

[Apathy]

Oh, it's probably too late for that kid, unless child services took him away for good.

[Falconess]

I somehow don't see how any charge of assault by that guy would ever uphold in any courtroom. And I think that getting an assault charge filed against you while on the clock being a fireable offense is absolutely ridiculous, particularly if the charges, in the end, are thrown out, and that I'd sue the crap out of a place if they fired me for that (you know, going along with the whole innocent until proven guilty thing and not firing someone for something they weren't guilty of).

I'd say it's more than logical to consider that self defense. To be convicted of a crime one most have intent to commit the crime. If the action is taken against another to prohibit the other from doing further harm to one's person, I don't think that can be considered intent to commit the crime of assault when they assaulted you first.

...growing up in a house full of lawyers is useful, sometimes.

It's not always right, and it's not always fair, and most of the time, it's all about who's getting paid, where. However, in a world where a cop can get sued and fired for shooting a guy in the leg, instead of killing him (for hospital charges and such), after being threatened, anything can happen. If you don't agree with the policy, you can always quit. And actually, that's why I have no idea if she ended up pressing charges against the company, I quit. I decided that if you can fired for defending yourself, it's not a place I wanted to work. A lot of big-chain places don't really care whether you're innocent, or not, if you "attack" (worded in the case of actually getting assult charges filed against you) a customer, you're gone. Obviously, this wasn't the case. Anything is possible, it's a matter of how probable something is.

As for the getting arrested part, I never said it would happen every time, but it is possible. Again, because I quit (and moved to Oregon a week later), I never did find out the end to that story.

I currently work at a place where I could do something like this, and probably get a raise for it. Okay, not really, but it is a very understanding place, that would never let something like this fly.

[Bliss]

In the raisins case it's more sketchy since it should be "obvious" the raisins are harmless. but in this case she didn't know what the hell was inside the gun and she was being shot with. Rather than assault I personally see this as self defense FROM assault (his assault and battery)

P.s. IANAL

[Boozy]

A slight struggle ensues, where i'm trying to yank the water gun out of his hands, my co-worker is trying to grab the kid from this guys neck, and he's crying bloody murder and worrying more about his kid, and the kid is screaming like a banshee.

I think it would have been better if you and your co-worker had walked away and called security to handle it. The guy may have been a pervert, but that's not the child's fault. The kid could have been injured as a result of your actions.

I know you said "long story short" but I really don't understand exactly what happened here. How did this guy get charged with assault? How do you know what happened to the child? Did the guy not press charges against you or your co-worker? Did you face any repercussions at work?

[Music Mo-Gal]

How scary! And what a wonderful role model for the child.

[Ree]

The guy was an idiot with a water gun, probably joking around with his kid.

Makes him a bit of a twit with poor judgment, but to automatically assume he should have his child taken away? Major overreaction.

The whole thing in my opinion was overkill.

People are free to just walk away. Why allow a ridiculous situation to escalate to that point?
Somebody could have gotten hurt, especially the child.

I would have been ticked if some stranger shot liquid at me from a water pistol, but I would have walked away and let security handle it, especially if I was on the clock at my job.
Why should I be paid to get into a scuffle with some dude who isn't even my customer?
He's not worth my time.

Also, I have to wonder at this:

and everyone now knows that I wear a 40C black bra from Victoria's Secret.

I fail to see how a few shots of water to your shirt got it so terribly soaked that the label from your bra was visible to all and sundry.
I figure that was probably just a bit of a joke, but I have to wonder why you would be cracking jokes and making light of your bra being exposed when you felt strongly enough about the situation to charge him with sexual assault. The joke seems a bit out of place under the circumstances.

It's a good thing it was just water. As some said, it could have been worse, but it wasn't.
I don't see heroics, really. Just a situation that was allowed to get way out of control.

I hope the dipshit learned his lesson not to go around squirting water guns at random strangers.

[marty]

I fail to see how a few shots of water to your shirt got it so terribly soaked that the label from your bra was visible to all and sundry.

I refer you to the super soaker website.

I'm just young enough to have encountered while in skirmishes with my brother the one-shot-and-you-have-to-change-clothes water gun. I mean, I do say this while seriously doubting that the guy had any of those assault water rifles...

Pretty much anything can be considered as an object of assault depending on how it's used. And in a lot of cases, though I think maybe this one was a bit extreme, children will be taken away from their parents immediately following the charging of sexual crimes until the situation is further resolved.

[kibbles]

Sexual harassment charges, arrested, a guy loses his kid, all because of a silly water gun. Ummmmm, overreaction IMO.