What is assault in Florida?
Answer: An assault is an intentional act by somebody—it could be by word or it could be by act—to do violence against another. But it has to actually be coupled with an ability to actually do so at the time. And that’s creating some type of well-founded fear in the other person that violence or a battery or that intentional act is imminent. If it’s just a word, like for instance if it’s somebody, like if we were over the phone and said, “I’m going to punch you in the face,” that’s not an assault because there’s no immediate ability to do so.
