Harassment, Stalking, Misconduct Harassment Charge

[stormgal]

I'm wondering what else I can do regarding a Harassment charge that I filed today with the police. What happened was that I was having dinner at a restaurant with my husband, and a group of loud and obnoxious people sat behind me. Two people from the obnoxious group got up and moved the entire bench in such a way that it moved me and made my drink spill. In return, I elbowed the chair back, and the two people who were rude asked me what "my problem" was. As I started explaining to them what they did, the one big thug cursed at me from across the table - he made some very explicit disgusting comment at me, so I flipped him off. The guy then took a glass of water, and threw it at me - but the glass must have fallen out of his hand too quickly, because it missed my head, and fell on my lap. I still got hit with ice cubes and water. Then he turned around and asked, "Whachoo gonna doo now?" - in his moronic thugged-out language. So, I told him that I was going to call the police and file assault charges on him. My husband escorted me out of the restaurant where we contacted the police. When the police came, they basically told me that I couldn't file assault charges - instead, they downgraded the charge to harassment - to my dismay! The police officer then asked me to contact the precinct tomorrow and they will then provide me with a complaint number. My question is, what can I do with that complaint number, as I would like to take it further - I feel that these people need to learn that they can't go around throwing things at people.

 

[NYClex]

You can file a civil suit for assault and battery. In the criminal law area it is out of your hands: if the police -or rather the prosecutor- decide that they want only to file harassment charges, then you cannot do anything about that, It is their decision to make. But you can file suit in civil court. From what you describe this certainly was a battery and an assault.

The downside to this is that you have to do it all alone, either get a lawyer to do it for you or do it all yourself and then of course do it right, observing all the rules etc. But that is not impossible. You must decide if it is worth the effort. In a civil suit you would sue them for damages. So you want to evaluate cost and effort on your side and compare it to what reasonably might be awarded to you.