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Aggravated Battery

Aggravated Battery (BAT) - Level I

Definition:

A battery where the attacker intentionally or knowingly causes more serious injury as defined in 6A-1.0017(8)(g), such as: great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement; uses a deadly weapon; or, where the attacker knew or should have known the victim was pregnant.

Examples

  • Student hitting another with a heavy object over the head resulting in serious injury
  • Student jabbing a pen into another's arm resulting in serious injury.
  • Student or other engaging in a mutual physical altercation with another and continuing to hit/beat that person even after that person stops fighting, or is no longer able to fight back resulting in serious injury.
  • Student committing aggravated battery upon a school district employee such as a teacher or other staff person.

Non-Examples

  • Student or other delivering a single poke to the chest.
  • Student or other delivers a single, non-injuring strike to the arm of another.
  • Student or other actively engaging in a fight with each other (refer to Fighting code as a possible SESIR code).
  • Student or other striking back when hit by an aggressor and becoming engaged in a fight with the aggressor (refer to Fighting code as a possible SESIR code).

Additional Guidelines

Note: Battery is a "Violent Incident" and is required to be reported in the related element "Injury-Related" as more serious injury.

To distinguish from Fighting, report an incident as Aggravated Battery only when the force or violence is carried out against a person who is not fighting back.

FAQ

If a student is arrested for battery, should the incident be reported as SESIR Aggravated Battery?

  • Not always. For a behavior to be reported to SESIR it must meet the incident definition in the SESIR Definitions and Guidelines document. There are instances when a student is arrested for a behavior that would not get reported to SESIR. For example if a student hit another on the arm once and the student was not hurt, the action would not meet the SESIR definition of aggravated battery. If the parent of the student hit insisted on pressing charges, the resource officer may have to arrest the offending student since his action meets the statutory definition of battery. Although most SESIR incidents match the criminal statutes, battery is somewhat different since the criminal statute reflects what is inappropriate for an adult population. An arrest for battery might correspond to Simple Battery in SESIR.

According to what is written in Appendix P, if a student commits a Level 1 incident such as Aggravated Battery, are we to first contact law enforcement and then make a determination as to whether an official report should be written?

  • Level 1 incidents are generally violent offenses. The district school board determines which SESIR incidents require consultation with law enforcement, and that information is required to be included in the district's zero tolerance policy. Once law enforcement is contacted, they would make the determination whether an official report should be written.

Statutes

Contact

Office of Safe Schools
325 West Gaines Street, Room 1302
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400
Phone: (850) 245-5173
Fax: (850) 245-9978

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