• Simple Assault
• Felony Assault

You’ve been in a fight and came up on the winning side.   Now, you have whipped (aka “assaulted”) someone and while you think it’s bad, you don’t know what the police will think.

Here is what you should know.   A simple assault is generally treated as a misdemeanor, while an aggravated assault is a felony.  The one they’ll pin on you depends upon if a deadly weapon found its way into the beat down (aka “assault”) or if you really gave it to the other person (think – emergency room).

Simple Assault

Simple assault results from causing injury, causing a person to think you are going to injure him or physically contacting someone in a way she and an onlooker finds offensive.  For aggravated assault, take all of this and add serious bodily injury and/or a deadly weapon (even if you just take out a weapon and don’t actually use it).

Felony Assault

If there is no deadly weapon, the decision between a felony assault and simple assault comes down to how badly you whipped your opponent.  Say you break a guy’s nose but it can heal in a few weeks without any huge effort on his part—that’s not so bad, maybe a misdemeanor unless you broke it with the end of a rifle.  If you put somebody in intensive care and when he gets out he’s got weeks or months or years of rehabilitation ahead AND he’ll never be the same—that’s bad.  That’s felony bad.

So, now you know the difference between a felony assault and simple assault but this still may not be enough for you to know how to analyze your situation.  Maybe you fall somewhere between broken-nose bad and ICU bad.  Whatever gray you see in your situation or even if you think you’re sure, you should call an attorney.

If you are in Washington, DC or Maryland, call The Law Offices of Michael Bruckheim at (240) 753-8222.

Myth #1:  Liquor before beer, in the clear. Beer before liquor, never sicker.

It’s not about which comes first.  It’s about the overall amount of alcohol you consume —no matter what came when.  People usually believe in this myth because the more you drink, the fewer inhibitions you have toward drinking—meaning the more you drink, the more you drink.  If you start with beer (which has a lower alcohol concentration than liquor) and then switch to hard liquor, you will consume more alcohol, resulting in the greater possibility of a hangover.

Myth #2:  Coffee cures a hangover.

Not true.  Alcohol dehydrates you and coffee is a diuretic.  Add dehydration + dehydration and your hangover will be worse than over.   Replace coffee with water and sports drinks to replace the fluids and electrolytes the alcohol drains from your system.

Myth #3:  Eating after drinking and before bed will absorb the alcohol in your bloodstream and decrease the odds of having a hangover.

Not today and not tomorrow.  Easting is only helpful if you do it BEFORE you drink.

Myth #4:  If a man and a woman who are the same weight consume the same number of drinks, they have the same chances of getting a hangover.

Nope.  Men have more water in their bodies, which dilutes the alcohol.  Plus, they have larger amounts of an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol.  In other words, men can often (but not always) drink more than women without a hangover.

Myth #5:  A Bloody Mary the “Morning After” Cures a Hangover
Not true.  A Bloody Mary may delay a hangover, but it won’t prevent it.  Hangovers result when your blood-alcohol levels start falling.  Adding more alcohol to your system may delay a hangover, but it won’t prevent it.

At the end of the day, pay attention to what you are drinking and how much of it you have consumed.  If you find yourself stopped by the police under the suspicion of driving while drunk call The Law Office of Michael Bruckheim at (240) 753-8222.