Two common self-defense questions come up when a confrontation turns physical: whether deadly force can be justified when someone punches you, and whether it can be used against someone who is running away. The answers depend on the circumstances, including the size and number of the people involved, whether the other person is armed, and whether you are still under attack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Shoot Someone Who Punches You in Self-Defense?
Can you legally shoot somebody and use deadly force because somebody punches you? The shortest answer I can give to that is no. It depends on the situation. Is there one person that punched you? Is it a group of people and this was the leader? It depends on those circumstances. But you can’t bring a gun to a fist fight necessarily if somebody punches you.
At the same time, in the law, there are all these other wrinkles and exceptions. In an assault, what the law looks at is whether or not it’s, quote, a fair fight. So the law looks at the ages of the people. If it’s an elderly person who’s feeble versus young strong people, that’s a factor. Sexes, gender, if it’s a woman or a teenage girl versus a big strong man or more than one man, that’s a factor. The number of assailants.
If you have somebody who’s frail or somebody whose gender is female and you have somebody who’s outnumbered and they’re clearly being attacked to be robbed or murdered or sexually assaulted, that changes the equation. That’s basically just assault and battery law. The number of assailants, the difference in size and weight, the difference in gender, and all of those factors add into that.
If the person has a deadly weapon, a deadly weapon could be a tire iron, it could be a crowbar, could be a hammer, could be a knife, could be a hard liquor bottle, could be a firearm, could be a sword. Could be maybe brass knuckles, the things you wear on your fist where you punch somebody and hit them with a metal. It could be anything. Is the person armed? Depending on those circumstances, in certain circumstances, it would be justifiable to shoot somebody who’s punching.
Can You Shoot Someone Who Is Running Away in Self-Defense?
If you have a firearm to defend yourself, can you shoot somebody who’s running away from you? The short answer is no. Why can you not shoot somebody who’s running away? You cannot shoot somebody who’s running away from you because they are not a threat.
You can use self-defense and you can defend yourself and you can use deadly force to defend yourself when you’re facing an attack where someone is trying to kill you. Force has to equal force. So can you use deadly force against somebody who’s not using deadly force against you?
You can act on appearances. If you think somebody’s armed or they give you the reason to believe they’re armed, the appearances do matter. Now, realistically, when they’re going through your file and trying to figure out what to charge you with or whether to charge you, they’re going to look at a lot of things and it’s going to affect their decision. But the basic thing is, are you under attack? Is the person using deadly force against you? If so, then you can use deadly force to repel that attack.
Self-defense cases depend on the specific facts of what happened, and the decisions made afterward can carry serious consequences. Greg McCollum brings 30 years of experience as a South Carolina criminal defense attorney, along with a background as a former prosecutor, to every case he handles. An attorney who can review the details of your situation may be able to explain how a self-defense claim could apply to the facts.
If you have questions about self-defense and the use of deadly force in South Carolina, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.