Domestic violence is usually considered to be some sort of battery committed by someone against their significant other, such as a spouse, a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. If it involves two people who are romantically involved, then it's typically going to be a domestic violence situation.
When the police respond to domestic violence calls, they will try to determine who the aggressor is. They will usually arrest the aggressor, and bail will be $50,000. If it wasn't that serious, the bail could be $20,000. There will be some bail set so the aggressor has time to cool off. If you have been accused of domestic or spousal battery, contact a domestic violence attorney at our law firm to review the details of your case.
Sometimes, these situations are political. The police are trying to protect themselves because if they don't do anything about it and someone ends up being killed or seriously injured, then it is going to be their fault.
Their supervisor will say, “You guys were out there; why didn't you do something about this?” Special prosecution units prosecute these types of cases in Los Angeles. It's called the “VIC” unit, which is the unit that prosecutes people who are involved in domestic violence.
How Do Police Determine The Aggressor In A Domestic Violence Scenario?
It's not always easy for the police to determine who the aggressor is in a domestic violence situation. A person can be acting very aggressively, yelling and screaming without doing anything criminal.
Most of the time, it's pretty easy for the police to figure out who the aggressor is because it will be the person who acted illegally. When determining who the aggressor is in a domestic violence situation, it's not necessarily the person who initiates an argument by yelling or calling the other person a name; it's the person who becomes physically violent in an unlawful way.
In about 95 percent of the cases, the police do not have a problem identifying the aggressor.
It becomes more complicated when there is a physical fight between two people, and both parties are injured. Under those circumstances, the police will often call their sergeant or commander to have them decide who to arrest. It is not uncommon for the police to arrest the wrong person.
A case like that will usually be dismissed once the city or district attorney looks at everything and after I talk to them about it. Other times, we will have to fight the case. Once the facts of the case come out, they will realize they made a bad judgment call and arrested the wrong person.
