Let’s travel back in time to when you were in middle school. At one point or another, did you ever feel like throwing something at one of your teachers? I know I did. Not that it’s right by any means, but would you consider an ornery middle schooler a criminal for doing so? Well, one school district obviously did because now a 14 year old may be facing a 3rd Degree Assault charge after throwing a baby carrot at her former teacher. The carrot, which measured less than 2 inches long, hit the teacher in the forehead. The girl maintains it was just a joke and that she did not hold any ill will toward the teacher, but it did not stop the district from contacting law enforcement. To date, the girl has been out of school for over a month waiting to see if she will be served a summons and officially charged with an Assault crime.
3rd Degree Assault in Weld County
The Colorado law definition of Assault in the Third Degree – C.R.S. 18-3-204 – is:
(a) The person knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person or with criminal negligence the person causes bodily injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon
Bodily Injury and a Baby Carrot: I Can’t Believe We Are Actually Having This Conversation
Thankfully, the carrot is not considered a deadly weapon, or at least not in this case – I wouldn’t be surprised to someday read a news report where they considered a carrot a deadly weapon. Because of the lack of a weapon, the case above only relates to the first half of the definition: “The person knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person.” According to Colorado law, the definition of ‘bodily injury’ is:
In essence, all a person has to do is claim they felt pain in order to get someone charged with Third Degree Assault. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it didn’t feel good getting a carrot to the forehead, but to go so far as to claim you suffered physical pain because of it? That’s just embarrassing. My gosh. Have the girl stay after school and write 1,000 times, “I won’t throw carrots at another person.”
Have you been charged with Assault? Contact the experienced criminal defense lawyers from the O’Malley Law Office to defend you today!
Have you been charged with Assault? Contact the experienced criminal defense lawyers from the O’Malley Law Office to defend you today!
Personally, I think this seems like the type of issue that could have been handled within the school. I could see a suspension being appropriate, but to take it all the way to criminal charges? What is this world coming to? I think back to my school age years and wonder how many of my classmates would have ended up with a criminal record before leaving high school if schools had overreacted in the same way as the story above. I would feel confident betting that the Colorado State Legislature never had the ‘baby carrot to the forehead’ scenario in mind when writing this particular law. Yet, law enforcement often take things to the extreme.
If you or someone you love has been charged with Third Degree Assault in Greeley, Evans or Erie, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact the best criminal defense lawyers from the O’Malley Law Office at 970-616-6009 to schedule a free consultation. Together, we can protect your future.
Image Credit: Pixabay – janua2000