Richmond, Va., City Code § 19-59 Assault and battery.
Sec. 19-59. - Assault and battery.
(a) The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Law enforcement officer means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, or any full-time or part-time employee of a private police department, and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth, and shall include any:
(1) Special agent of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority;
(2) Police agent appointed under the provisions of Code of Virginia, § 56-353;
(3) Officer of the Virginia Marine Police;
(4) Conservation police officer who is a full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Wildlife Resources;
(5) Investigator who is a sworn member of the security division of the Virginia Lottery;
(6) Conservation officer of the Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioned pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 10.1-115;
(7) Full-time sworn member of the enforcement division of the Department of Motor Vehicles appointed pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 46.2-217;
(8) Animal protection police officer employed under Code of Virginia, § 15.2-632 or 15.2-836.1;
(9) Campus police officer appointed under Code of Virginia, Title 23.1, Ch. 8, Art. 3 (Code of Virginia, § 23.1-809 et seq.);
(10) Member of the investigations unit designated by the State Inspector General pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 2.2-311 to investigate allegations of criminal behavior affecting the operations of a state or nonstate agency;
(11) Employee with internal investigations authority designated by the Department of Corrections pursuant to subdivision 11 of § 53.1-10 or by the state Department of Juvenile Justice pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 66-3(A)7;
(12) Private police officer employed by a private police department; or
(13) Person designated as a sworn unit investigator by the Attorney General pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 32.1-320.1(A).
Part-time employees are those compensated officers who are not full-time employees as defined by the employing police department, sheriff's office, or private police department.
School security officer means an individual who is employed by the local School Board for the purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of School Board policies and detaining persons violating the law or School Board policies on school property, a school bus or at a school-sponsored activity and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety, security and welfare of all students, faculty and staff in the assigned school.
(b) Any person who commits a simple assault or assault and battery shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If the person intentionally selects the person against whom a simple assault is committed because of such person's race, religious conviction, color or national origin, the penalty upon conviction shall include a mandatory, minimum term of confinement of at least six months, 30 days of which shall not be suspended, in whole or in part.
(c) In addition, if any person commits a battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such other person is a full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school and is engaged in the performance of duties as such, such person shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, and the sentence of such person, upon conviction, shall include a sentence of 15 days in jail, two days of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of confinement; however, if the offense is committed by use of a firearm or other weapon prohibited on school property pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 18.2-308.1, the person shall serve a mandatory, minimum sentence of confinement of six months.
(d) In addition, any person who commits a battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such individual is a health care provider as defined in Code of Virginia, § 8.01-581.1 who is engaged in the performance of his duties as an emergency health care provider in an emergency room of a hospital or clinic or on the premises of any other facility rendering emergency medical care is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The sentence of such person, upon conviction, shall include a term of confinement of 15 days in jail, two days of which shall be a mandatory, minimum term of confinement.
(e) The term "simple assault" or "assault and battery" shall not be construed to include the use of, by any school security officer or full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school in the course and scope of such person's acting official capacity, any of the following:
(1) Incidental, minor or reasonable physical contact or other actions designed to maintain order and control;
(2) Reasonable and necessary force to quell a disturbance or remove a student from the scene of a disturbance that threatens physical injury to persons or damage to property;
(3) Reasonable and necessary force to prevent a student from inflicting physical harm on himself or herself;
(4) Reasonable and necessary force for self-defense or the defense of others; or
(5) Reasonable and necessary force to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects or controlled substances or associated paraphernalia that are upon the person of the student or within the student's control.
In determining whether a person was acting within the exceptions provided in this subsection, due deference shall be given to reasonable judgments that were made by a school security officer or full-time or part-time employee of any public or private elementary or secondary school at the time of the event.
(Code 1993, § 20-36; Code 2004, § 66-76; Code 2015, § 19-59; Code 2020, § 19-59)