Did I use reasonable force in this situation?

In your opinion, did I use reasonable or excessive force whilst threatened by a larger man?

Hello,

to begin I have already filed a police complaint, and talked to a solicitor for legal advice. This is NOT a post asking for legal advice, I am just writing this to see if you guys would have done the same thing?

TL;DR:

After pulling out in front of me in his car and pulling over, a man put his hand on my chest, and i removed his hand and push him backwards lightly, and warning him not to touch me. he responds by threatening to knee me in my face, and gestures to do so. He steps towards my girlfriend and I put my hand out to stop him, he pushes me back forcefully, and so I hit him 3-4 times. The fight lasted less than 2 seconds, I was not punched but pushed twice after warning him about touching me. I punched first. He calls the police claiming to be the victim of a assault. Police have CCTV that I have not seen yet. Police say I have nothing to worry about, but asked me to come to station to provide statement.

Context:

I am 21, 5’7. 64 kg

The other guy is probably around 35 to 40, 5”10 80 kg

A car pulled out in front and barely gave me any time to react, I managed to swerve off and avoid hitting him and I honk my horn at him.

We pull over in a nearby shopping centre car park as he was headed there too.

He says “Did I scare ya?”. with a smirk.

I respond along the lines of “You don’t know how to drive, you nearly caused a crash without checking your mirrors”

As I continue walking towards the entrance, he meets me in the middle.

This guy gets up in my face and says whilst touching and pointing his finger at my chest and says “You’re just a little boy and i’m a man” for some reason even though this had nothing to do with anything.

I push his hand away from my chest, then pushing him slightly backwards, and repeatedly warn him “Don’t touch me”.

After I push him back, he storms back and gets in my face to grit his teeth and say “Don’t fcking touch me?! I’ll knee you in your fcking face!” whilst lifting his knee up as if he was going to knee me.

I repeat that I don’t want him to touch me.

His wife and mother get out of the car, and say to me “That’s all you can say?” whilst laughing, which I think egged his ego on.

My girlfriend says something along the lines of “You’re saying you’re a man but you came up to us and started acting aggressively.”

I think this hurt his ego, he took one step towards my girlfriend and I put my hand out towards him, he walks into my hand but I stop him from getting any closer to my girlfriend.

As he walks into my hand I lightly push him backwards away from my girlfriend but it was not anything that would cause him to fall over.

In response he shoves me and I go backwards but in response I punched him in the body, and head with my left hand and with my right hand.

The last punch spun him around and he stumbled backwards a few metres.

I didn’t chase him, i stood there but prepared myself in case if he would come back to punch me or something. He didn’t, he had a small wound near his cheek but I don’t know what other damage was done to his mouth.

Like clockwork, the guy pulls out his phone and calls 999, telling a story of how he was a victim, approached by me, and how I physically assaulted him with no reason, and says he wants to press charges.

He completely disregards him and his family trying to escalate the situation, his threat to knee me in my face, him acting aggressively and gesturing to knee me. Shouting at me, and shouting at my girlfriend. I walk away from the man with my girlfriend back to my car.

I called 999 to let them know that I just had to defend myself and my girlfriend against an aggresor. The operator said as the situation was already over, to just leave the area and call 101 if I wanted to make a complaint. Which is what I did. I filed a complaint after getting in my car and leaving, and contacted my solicitor.

1 hour later, the police turn up at my door, to ask what had happened. I explained my side of the story, told them that he lied to the police about not being the aggressor. The police said they had CCTV footage of the incident. They said that I don’t have anything that i need to “majorly worry about” but that on a separate date i need to go to the station to give a statement as the other guy had done so.

The police also said that if I was in serious trouble they would be arresting me at the door, but they’re just asking me to come in for a statement. I have asked my solicitor to come with me for legal advice.

MY QUESTION BELOW

For his aggressive demeanour, verbal threat, and actions - in your guys’ opinion did I respond with the appropriate amount of force?

This is not me seeking legal advice, as my solicitor is speaking with me tomorrow. Just wanted to know if you guys would have done the same?

Thank you.

Submitted October 01, 2023 at 01:00PM by No_Emphasis_8898 https://ift.tt/uo6awt5