565.056. Assault in the fourth degree.
This law makes it a crime to hurt, scare, or touch someone in a way they don’t want.
If you hurt someone, scare them on purpose, or touch them in a way that would upset a reasonable person, you could be charged with fourth-degree assault. It doesn’t have to cause serious injury.
1. A person breaks this law if they do any of the following:
- Try to hurt someone or do something reckless that causes pain, injury, or illness;
- Accidentally hurt someone with a deadly weapon because they were being careless;
- Scare someone on purpose by making them think they’re about to get hurt;
- Act in a reckless way that puts someone at real risk of dying or being badly hurt;
- Touch someone with a disability in a way that most people would find offensive or upsetting;
- Touch someone in a way you know they’ll find offensive or upsetting.
2. This is usually a class A misdemeanor, which is a serious charge but not a felony.
3. If the charge is based only on scaring someone or offensive touching (parts 3 or 6 above), it’s a class C misdemeanor—unless the victim is a special victim, like a police officer, in which case it stays a class A misdemeanor.
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