Originally Posted by
C.Difficile
Not getting into the politics of this, but it would make a great Torts exam question. Assault, (or battery when physical contact occurs) can extend to objects like if someone smacked a coffee cup out of your hand or pulled a chair out from under you. She probably committed battery first by attempting to grab the mike and his contact appeared to be purely in self-defense, just enough to stop the initial battery. The closer question I suppose is whether his conduct reached the level where physical force was justified, but as he was not being physically disruptive (prior to the mic being grabbed), I would wager not.
Not really her fault and she was in a bad position. She's an intern, panicked, and just started grabbing. If she yelled "Sir PLEASE HAND ME THE MICROPHONE" it would have been much more effective.