If you’ve just been assaulted on the street, get to a safe place and call 911. Those two actions protect your health and start every legal process that follows. What you do over the next hours and days — medical care, a police report, preserved evidence, and a few deadlines you’ll want to know about — shapes whether the person who hurt you faces consequences and whether you recover what the assault cost you.
Get to Safety and Call 911
Put distance between yourself and your attacker. Step into a store, a restaurant, anywhere with other people around. Then call 911. Give the dispatcher your location first, then what happened and whether you need an ambulance. Stay on the line until help arrives if you can. The call is recorded and time-stamped, so it becomes evidence from the first moment.
Defending Yourself During the Attack
Every state recognizes a right to self-defense, but the rules vary. The common thread is proportionality: the force you use has to be reasonable compared to the threat. A shove doesn’t justify a knife. If someone is punching you, you can punch back, but once they stop or retreat, you have to stop too. Force used after the threat ends looks like retaliation, not defense.
Deadly force is treated separately. To justify it, you generally need to face an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, the deadly force must be necessary to stop that threat, and a reasonable person in your position must have believed the same. Roughly half the states have “stand your ground” laws that remove any obligation to retreat before using force in a place you have a right to be. The rest impose a duty to retreat if you can do so safely, though that duty almost never applies inside your own home.
The practical version: defend yourself enough to get away, then get away.
See a Doctor Even If You Feel Fine
Go to an emergency room or urgent care even if nothing seems serious. Adrenaline hides pain. Concussions, internal bruising, and hairline fractures can take hours or days to show. Tell the doctor exactly how you were hurt so they know what to look for.
The visit also creates a time-stamped medical record linking your injuries to the assault, and that record carries far more weight than your own description later. Ask for copies of your discharge paperwork, imaging, and treatment notes before you leave.
File a Police Report
A police report is what turns the assault into an official criminal matter. Without one, prosecutors have nothing to work with, and most state victim compensation programs require it as a condition of eligibility. You can report by calling 911 at the scene, going to the precinct where the assault happened, or calling the non-emergency line if time has passed.
An officer will walk you through what happened: where, when, what the attacker looked like, who else saw it. Police reports record important data, help investigators, and support identifying offenders.1FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Focus on Report Writing Policies and Practices Before the officer leaves, get their name, badge number, and the police report number. You’ll need that number to request a copy and to reference the case later.
Report as soon as you can. If you weren’t able to in the moment, a delayed report is still valuable. Shock, fear, and injury commonly prevent immediate reporting, and officers know that.
Preserve Evidence Yourself
Some of the most useful evidence is what you collect on your own. Start as soon as you’re physically able.
- Write down everything you remember about the attacker: approximate height, build, hair color, clothing, tattoos, scars. Memory degrades fast after trauma.
- Note the exact location, date, and time. If anyone witnessed the assault, get their names and phone numbers before they leave.
- Photograph your injuries in clear, well-lit shots. Keep photographing over the following days. Bruising often looks worse at 48 to 72 hours than it did immediately after.
- Don’t wash the clothes you were wearing. Put each item in a separate paper bag; plastic traps moisture and can degrade blood and DNA.
- Note any security cameras or businesses nearby so police can request footage before it’s overwritten. If a bystander recorded video, ask them to send it to you or directly to police.
Keep everything in one folder: medical records, the police report number, photos, and your written account. Any attorney or investigator you bring in later starts hours ahead with that in hand.
Know Your Legal Options: Criminal and Civil
Two separate legal tracks can run at the same time after an assault, and they work differently.
The Criminal Case
You don’t press criminal charges. The government does. Your police report goes to a prosecutor, who decides whether to bring charges based on the evidence. Your role becomes that of a witness. If the case moves forward, the attacker can face prison, fines, probation, and restitution paid to you.2United States Courts. Criminal Cases
You won’t always agree with the prosecutor. They may offer a plea you think is too lenient, or decline to prosecute if they don’t think the evidence will hold up at trial. That doesn’t mean what happened wasn’t a crime. It means the state didn’t believe it could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Civil Lawsuit
A civil case is yours to bring. You hire an attorney and file a personal injury claim against the person who attacked you, seeking money for what the assault cost you: medical bills, therapy, lost wages, pain, and emotional distress. Because assault is intentional, a court may also award punitive damages on top of your actual losses to punish the conduct.
The civil burden of proof is lower than the criminal one. You have to show your claim is more likely true than not, rather than proving it beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil cases sometimes succeed even when criminal charges are dropped or end in acquittal.
Watch the Deadlines
Both tracks have time limits, and missing them permanently closes your options.
For a civil personal injury lawsuit, most states give you between two and three years from the date of the attack. Some allow as little as one year, a few extend to five or six. Once the deadline passes, the court dismisses the case regardless of how strong your evidence is. Talking to a local attorney early is the simplest way to avoid losing the window by accident.
Prosecutors face their own deadlines. Misdemeanor assault typically has a one- to two-year limit; felony assault runs three to six years in most states, sometimes longer, and a few states set no limit on certain violent felonies. The clock runs from the date of the offense, not the date the attacker is identified, which is one more reason to report promptly.
State victim compensation programs have filing windows too, often one to three years, and most require that you reported the crime to police. Check your state program early.
Protective Orders If You Might See Them Again
If your attacker is someone you may encounter again, a protective order (sometimes called a restraining order) can legally require them to stay away. You file paperwork at your local courthouse describing the threat. A judge can issue a temporary order quickly, sometimes the same day, that lasts until a full hearing where both sides are heard. After that hearing, the judge decides whether to extend it.
Availability is broadest in cases involving domestic violence, intimate partners, or household members. If the person who assaulted you is a stranger with no ongoing connection to your life, whether an order is available depends on your state. Some states offer broader protective orders or “peace orders” covering harassment from anyone; others limit them to specific relationships. A local victim advocate or attorney can tell you what applies where you live. Violating a protective order is a criminal offense in every state. If the person contacts you or comes near you after the order is served, call police immediately.
Apply for Crime Victim Compensation
Every state, plus Washington D.C. and U.S. territories, runs a crime victim compensation program funded in part through the federal Victims of Crime Act.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 34 Section 20101 – Crime Victims Fund These programs reimburse out-of-pocket costs like medical treatment, mental health counseling, lost wages, and related expenses.4Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Compensation
Compensation is a payer of last resort, covering what insurance and other sources don’t. Most programs require that you reported the crime to police and cooperated with the investigation. The programs don’t cover property damage or pain and suffering, which is what a civil lawsuit is for. You can find your state’s program through the Office for Victims of Crime directory.5Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Compensation and Assistance in Your State
Time Off Work While You Recover
If injuries keep you out of work, federal law offers some protection. The Family and Medical Leave Act lets eligible employees take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition that prevents them from doing their job.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 29 Section 2612 – Leave Requirement Physical injuries that require ongoing medical care or keep you out more than three consecutive days with a doctor’s involvement can qualify. So can psychological conditions like PTSD that meet the serious health condition threshold.
FMLA leave is unpaid, but your employer must keep your group health insurance in place and reinstate you to the same or an equivalent position when you return. To qualify, you need at least 12 months with the employer, at least 1,250 hours worked in the previous year, and an employer with 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
A growing number of states have crime victim leave laws on top of FMLA that allow time off for court appearances, medical appointments, and obtaining protective orders. Scope and employer-size thresholds vary, so check what your state offers.
Get Support for the Psychological Aftermath
The psychological effects of an assault are often harder to manage than the physical injuries. Trouble sleeping, hypervigilance, flashbacks, and a sense of vulnerability are normal trauma responses, not weakness. They can intensify in the weeks after the event rather than fading, and professional support makes a measurable difference in how fully people recover.
Therapists trained in trauma-focused approaches like EMDR or cognitive processing therapy are the most direct route to treatment. Your state’s victim assistance program can connect you with counseling, and the cost is often covered by victim compensation funds. For immediate support, the Victim Connect Resource Center at 1-855-4-VICTIM (1-855-484-2846) offers referrals for all crime victims.