I got a restraining order against my COVID-denying next-door neighbor.

I am significantly immune-compromised and was just forced to go through this process to ensure my safety.

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I will call my assailant, “Mr. Covid.” His actions had already generated two separate police calls (from others) for assault in the previous three months. My situation was a little more subtle.

People frequently refer to “assault and battery” as if it were a single thing. But they are two different things, though close cousins. While assaults attempt to cause bodily harm, a battery is the act following through on the threatened assault. Assault is defined in California as:

“an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.”

In most states, there are various categories of assault, all of which carry different penalties, including…