Oklahoma Process Servers Have the Right to Defend Themselves

Oklahoma Process Servers Have the Right to Defend Themselves

            A few months ago a process who works for Oklahoma Judicial Process Servers www.OklahomaJudicialProcessServers.com and other companies called to share a story of something that had happened on what was supposed to have been an otherwise routine serve.  When he first shared his story, everyone was concerned for his safety but not completely shocked at what had happened.  What should have proven to be an otherwise routine serve turned into something it did not have to be, and the result turned out poorly for the instigator.

            When this fabulous Oklahoma process server went out to serve some papers on a young lady, her father was the one at home.  The dad said that his daughter was not there, so the Oklahoma process server proceeded to give the papers to him instead.  After having given the man the papers, the process server began to walk back to his car.  Unfortunately, the dad kind of lost it.

            The father came out after the process server from Oklahoma and began to tug on the process server’s clothes, trying to intimidate him and rough him up a bit.  The process server warned him to kindly back off and just let the matter go.  Besides, the process server was in no way involved in the lawsuit, right?  Under Oklahoma’s laws, they are not allowed to be an interested party to either side of a legal case.  Unfortunately, tempers can flare and people can sometimes take their anger out on the wrong individuals.

            After the dad refused to back off and began to get more violent, the process server had to punch him in the face.  Once that happened, the dad began to charge, and the process server pulled out his pepper spray.  Undeterred, the father kept after him, so there was no choice for the process server from Oklahoma to do anything but use it.  This, of course, put a quick end to the melee.

            Once the lady’s father had been stopped with the pepper spray, the process server did the right thing and called the police.  The police came out and arrested the girl’s father, as he was assaulting an officer of the court in the process of his official duties.  That’s illegal for anyone to do, and the police handcuffed the man and took him off to jail.  Needless to say, the process server who did absolutely nothing wrong left and went on to his next case.

This story is something police officers and process servers alike sometimes face, and Oklahoma’s stand Your Ground Law protects people from having to just turn and run away.  Even if you are not licensed as an officer of the court and are not a police officer, you still have the right to protect yourself.  Indeed, that is a basic right of all living beings.

            The key to this is to make sure that one never uses excessive force.  A fairly clear example of this involves the case of the pharmacist in Oklahoma who went too far by going back to shoot the robber over and over after he was already incapacitated.  The key is to defend yourself if you need to.  Process servers – or anyone for that matter – should never try to do more harm than they absolutely have to.  This is an important principle that both process servers and non-process servers alike should strive to live by.