Can you get into legal trouble for refusing to break up a fight?

[Anonymous]

So I was drinking with some of my friends, and a bar fight broke out between two guys apparently because the one guy was sleeping with the other guy's wife behind his back. Being a big guy, I was asked by the bartender to break up the fight.

I told her flatly that I would not, nor would I call the police. The guy is a piece of garbage and was beating his wife outside their car. I wasn't going to get my friend in trouble either. afterward my friend smashed the phone of a teenage customer that was apparently recording it with his camera. The bartender was crying and said "you're both pieces of sh*t".

I really don't feel bad at all and feel I have done absolutely nothing wrong in this situation. Sure my friend went psycho, but why should I care if some guy like that gets medical attention or even if he does die?

[TheChristian]

Hi there, unfortunately, if this occurred in the US you can get into legal trouble for this. By legal trouble I mean that you could be sued by anyone at anytime for just about anything. Now would they be able to win a judgement against you is a different story. I wouldn't be concerned about not breaking up the fight. What you could have some liability with is not calling the police as that is a citizens duty or being an accessory to a crime (I.e. the assaults that your friend commited where you not doing anything to stop it could be interpreted as a form of assisting him). Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I probably wouldn't go back there if I were you just to avoid any further altercations. Also just an additional note if you do get into difficulty criminally, if you plead guilty or take a plea deal to accessory if you are sued in civil court they will win monetary damages as well since the purden of proof is less in civil than criminal and you already plead guilty. Be careful of the company you keep. There are plenty of people in jail for being a part of a criminal act committed by a friend and if that fight resulted in death you and your friend could be charged for capital murder. In some jurisdictions the slang term for this is "one punch homicides". Hope this helps. Wish you the best.

[BlueX]

Why should you have to break up a fight? You are not a bouncer or a cop. That would be putting yourself at risk, and you could get hurt.

And contrary to what another poster said, in the US you WOULD NOT be able to be sued for NOT breaking up a fight. Actually, if you TRIED to break up the fight and hurt someone while doing it, then you MAY get sued for that.

Also, it is the bartender ( or any employee working there) responsibility to call the police, not yours.

[lproxsme]

did you tell them to get out of the bar so no one else got hurt?

[Anonymous]

You did the right thing by not getting involved. It sounds like all parties needed some sense knocked into them. Everyone that walked away with bruises except for the guy that was cheated on deserved them. The guy and the wife whore who were cheating together sure are scum. If you stepped in, you could have been tagged as an instigator in the attack, even though that wasn't the case.

Let the idiots get their bruises. Did that girl that tends the bar try to break up the fight? No, she didn't. Why would make such a sacrifice? Just because your a man? The cheating wife whore, another woman, started the problem in the first place. One woman starts the problem, another woman wants you to finish it. Typical in our modern society of women failing to accept responsibility for their actions or the actions of other women.

In short, you did the right thing by not getting involved.

[Yeahhbro]

No, I know for a fact that when a worker is ordered to do something that he deems dangerous, he is not obliged to do it, nore he is alowed to get punished. In this case I would think it is the same thing, if you think your health or yourself can be in danger, you are not forced to do it and you are protected by law to not do it.

[Anonymous]

you can't get in tro for it. Your not a police officer so you don't have any responsibilty to break up fights