Posted by Curious HS Student on 2/9/05 8:14pm
Msg #19993

Assault to Notary Public

I am doing a high school essay on Notaries Public. The topic was Public Servants, and I was drawn to the Notary Public because of their history.

A Notary Public is a Public Officer, and a Public Servant. Well so is a cop, and the judges, and anyone with some kind of state authority. Therefore, I know that if a cop gets assualted while performing his duties, its a crime worse then hitting a normal civilian (if you will). So, if a Notary Public is performing his/her official acts, and somebody puts the Notary in fear for his/her life, has the person committed an assault on a public employee? Are the penalties the same as if when you hit a police officer?????

Remember, assault is not actually unlawfully touching someone, it's putting someone in immediate fear of injury/threat of life.

Reply by Don/NYC on 2/9/05 8:35pm
Msg #19995

It actually depends on the laws of the state. In NYS assaulting a police officer, firefighter or EMT/Paramedic is a Class A felony. In the case of EMTs and paramedics the law was only passed a few years ago.

In most cases assaulting a governmental employee is the same charge as with any other person. HOWVER, there is a charge of obstructing a governmental employee in the performance of their offical duty. HoweverI have not heard of anyone being charged with that as it relates to assaulting a notary public (bear in mind that I personnally don't know of any notary who was assaulted in the performance of their duties).

Reply by Ted_MI on 2/9/05 9:36pm
Msg #20010

Hi,

Although I believe that there is some uniformity as to what constitutes a certain crime from one state to another, it would really help to know what state you are in. And yes as a general statement of the law, assault does not necessarily involve actually unlawfully touching anyone.

A close friend of mine has spent the last two years in prison for something I sincerely believe he didn't do. Among other things, he was convicted of felonious assault for allegedly pointing a gun at a woman in a car on a freeway.