If you have been assaulted or battered by someone, you have more options open to you than just having that person arrested. You can also contact a personal injury lawyer and have file a lawsuit against them. If you are going to do that, it's important to know what the terms mean and what they mean to you. 

Assault

The terms assault and battery often go together, and your attacker may be guilty of both, but they may also be guilty of only one of them. Assaulted isn't necessarily a physical action. For you to be assaulted, you just have to have a reasonable fear that you are about to be physically injured. For example, if someone is waving a baseball bat at you and is saying that they are going to knock your head off, causing you to be in fear of being physically injured, that can be classified as assault. They haven't physically hit you, but you have a reasonable belief that they are going to hurt you at any moment. 

Battery

Once the person hits you with their baseball bat, the action goes past assault and into battery. Generally, the injury has to be an intentional action. If you are playing a game and someone hurts you during the game, as part of the game, or you ask them to hit you, then odds are that a charge of battery would not stand. An action of battery doesn't have to happen immediately or even in close proximity to you.

For example, the injury could be the result of an immediate and direct action. If you get hit by a baseball bat by someone standing directly in front of you, the injury could have results from an action that was immediate but was indirect instead. Instead of holding the baseball bat and hitting you, your attacker throws the baseball bat at you and hits you with it. If your attacker acts in a remote and indirect action and injures you, they may also be charged with battery. For example, your attacker sets a trap that you trigger days after you have left and you get hit with a bunch of baseball bats.

If you have been injured through someone's criminal acts of assault and battery, you can press charges against them. You may also be able to take them to civil court and file a lawsuit to recover money from them. 

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