Could you be prosecuted for blowing smoke in someone’s face?

It’s a nasty situation all smokers have found themselves in.

You take a deep drag of a cigarette in a pub garden, breathe the smoke out and then are hit by the realisation that you’ve blown it right in an angry punter’s face.

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If you’re lucky, the person will make a disgusted face, laugh it off and walk away.

But, if you’re really unlucky, could you find yourself in court over accusations of assault?

Technically, yes, says barrister Richard Miller.

According to UK law, blowing smoke into someone’s face could count as assault – but it’s only likely that police would take the crime seriously in certain circumstances.

Speaking to Change Incorporated, set up to get people in the UK to quit smoking cigarettes for good, Richard said: ‘While technically the case could be made that it could be assault, under English law, to blow smoke into someone’s face it is hardly serious enough to count as assault since it does not cause physical injury. Most of the time this would be considered so trivial a court wouldn’t actually deal with it.’

However, the wounded party’s case could be made stronger if they suffer from asthma or allergies.

If inhaling your second-hand cigarette smoke brings on a serious attack for someone, potentially leading to hospitalisation, it’s very likely the police and courts would take any assault claim they made very seriously, says Richard.

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In this case, the police and a team of prosecutors would assess if any offence had been committed, and if so, what kind of assault the smoker would be charged with, the three main options being grievous bodily harm (GBH), actual bodily harm (ABH) and common assault or battery.

Richard said: ‘In the UK the level of injury sustained by a victim generally determines the severity of a case and what type of assault has been committed.

‘You can assault someone by threatening them from across the street, spitting at them or deliberating shoving them in a supermarket, but these mild crimes would not generally make it to a court.’

As it stands, no one in England has ever been convicted of assault by second-hand smoke.

But in America, courts have determined that intentionally blowing cigarette smoke in someone’s face could constitute battery.

Richard says that an intentional puff straight into someone’s face in the UK could be considered this too, if the person hasn’t given their consent to be touched by harmful smoke particles that could lead to cancer, heart disease and asthma attacks.

Richard said: ‘Everyone knows the toxic effects of cigarette smoke and second-hand smoke.

‘A person who blows cigarette smoke at someone who suffers from asthma with the intention of forcing them to inhale a harmful cocktail of toxic chemicals is intent on causing harmful or offensive contact with another which qualifies as assault in both the UK and the US.’

‘If you deliberately puff smoke into the face of an asthma sufferer who then has an attack and is hospitalised, you could be charged with actual bodily harm (ABH) by the police.

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‘Although no one has yet been convicted of ABH for blowing smoke into someone’s face in the UK, people have been convicted for the similar crime of hair-cutting, which significantly impacted the victim’s confidence.’

So, what if you do find yourself slapped with a lawsuit?

Predictably, the answer to this question is: get yourself some legal advice.

Richard said: ‘Many criminal law firms offer a free first assessment, so you can obtain advice even if you can’t afford to pay for a lawyer.

‘An experienced criminal defence lawyer can advise you about the strength, or weakness, of the prosecution case and the possible outcome.’

Ultimately though, the best advice smokers could receive is this: just watch where you blow that smoke.

While smoking or vaping, it’s advisable to give others a wide berth to save yourself from riling anyone up.

It’s also wise to blow smoke towards the ground, check if anyone is behind you as you walk, and to take note of which way the wind is blowing to avoid any issues.

Sure, some of these actions may sound a little extreme. But then again, you never know how much trouble you could land yourself in.

Nguồn: https://blogtinhoc.edu.vn
Danh mục: Info