Damned... Detroit Fans are Trash.

[Misfit Mav]

Originally posted by: Evilmav2

Sure, you can't punch a guy for merely insulting you, but you can use a reasonable degree of force to protect yourself from any person(s) who assault you. The actions that the first fan took in throwing threatening profanity and a full beer at Artest constitutes both assault and battery, thus the question of whether or not Artest used reasonable force to protect himself from the aggressor(s) in the crowd is something that only a court of law can decide.

Assault:
[i]A crime that occurs when one person tries to physically harm another in a way that makes the person under attack feel immediately threatened. Actual physical contact is not necessary; threatening gestures that would alarm any reasonable person can constitute an assault.

Battery:
A crime consisting of physical contact that is intended to harm someone. Unintentional harmful contact is not battery, no mater how careless the behavior or how severe the injury. A fist fight is a common battery; being hit by a wild pitch in a baseball game is not.

Can't argue with that. I don't know what happened exactly, and nobody except those involved know what was said. It sounds to me like Artest went over-board, but I couldn't say for sure.

I'm sure everyone can agree that it was an ugly incident. I hope we don't have to see plastic shields between the fans and the court or something now.