If you were assaulted by a security guard, you likely have grounds for both a criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit for money damages, and the two run on separate tracks that don’t depend on each other. Your immediate priorities are getting to safety, getting medical care, and preserving evidence. From there, you can report the assault to police, file a civil claim against the guard and their employer, and file a complaint with the state agency that licenses security personnel. Each of those steps is time-sensitive, and the strength of your case depends heavily on what you do in the first hours and days.
What to Do During and Right After the Incident
Your safety comes before anything else. Do not physically resist or fight back, even if you believe the guard is acting unlawfully. Resisting escalates the violence and can complicate your legal position later. Keep your hands visible, stay as calm as you can, and say clearly that you are not resisting.
If you can, move toward other people or a public area where witnesses are present. Call 911 or ask a bystander to call for you. Tell the dispatcher a security guard is using force against you and ask for police to respond. Having officers on scene while the incident is fresh is invaluable. If it’s safe to do so, start recording video or audio on your phone. Footage from the scene is often the strongest evidence you’ll have.
Once you’re out of danger, go to an emergency room or urgent care clinic even if your injuries seem minor. Concussions, soft tissue damage, and internal bruising don’t always show obvious symptoms right away. The medical records created during that visit document your injuries and tie them directly to the guard’s conduct. Skipping care and trying to file a claim weeks later gives the other side room to argue your injuries weren’t serious or weren’t caused by the incident.
Then file a police report as soon as you can. Give a factual account of what happened, insist on a formal report, and write down the report number. Whether or not police arrest the guard on the spot, the report becomes an official record independent of anything you say later.
Preserve every piece of evidence you can:
- Photograph your injuries in good lighting, with both close-ups and wider shots.
- Photograph the location where it happened.
- Write down the guard’s name and the name of their employer, usually visible on the uniform or a badge.
- Get the names and phone numbers of any bystanders who saw what happened. Witnesses disappear quickly.
- Save any clothing that shows damage or blood in a bag, unwashed.
- Within 24 hours, write your own detailed account of the incident while your memory is fresh: time, location, what was said, what was done, and the sequence of events.
When a Security Guard’s Force Is Unlawful
Private security guards are not police officers, and their legal authority is far more limited than most people assume. Broadly, they have the same powers as any private citizen: they can ask you to leave a property, and they can perform a citizen’s arrest if they witness a crime. Whatever force they use has to be reasonable and proportionate to the situation.
The core question in any assault claim is whether that force matched the threat. A guard who grabs someone’s arm to stop them leaving a store with stolen merchandise is likely within bounds. A guard who throws that person to the ground, punches them, or applies a chokehold over a suspected candy bar theft is not. Courts look at the severity of the suspected wrongdoing, whether the person posed an actual physical threat, and whether the person was resisting or trying to flee. Continuing to strike or restrain someone who is already subdued or compliant almost always crosses into unlawful assault.
The guard doesn’t have to land a punch for their conduct to be actionable. Aggressively cornering someone, drawing a weapon without justification, or making credible threats of violence can qualify as assault even without physical contact. Once contact is made, the claim becomes battery. Both are actionable in civil court.
Who You Can Sue
One of the most important features of these cases is that liability usually reaches well beyond the individual guard. The guard’s personal assets may be limited, but their employer and the property owner often have deeper pockets and their own legal exposure.
The Guard
The guard is personally liable for any assault or battery they commit. The claim that they were “just doing their job” is not a defense if the force used was unreasonable.
The Security Company
Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer is legally responsible for wrongful acts committed by employees within the scope of their employment.1Legal Information Institute. Respondeat superior If the guard was on duty and performing security functions when the assault occurred, the security company shares liability. This is often where the real money comes from, because companies carry insurance that individual guards typically don’t.
A separate and sometimes stronger claim is negligent hiring, training, or supervision. If the company hired someone with a violent criminal history without running a background check, or failed to train guards on appropriate use of force, the company is liable for its own negligence on top of any vicarious liability. That matters because respondeat superior only covers acts within the scope of employment, while negligent hiring can reach acts that went beyond what the guard was supposed to do.
The Property Owner
The business or property owner that hired the security company may also be on the hook. Property owners owe a duty to provide a reasonably safe environment for visitors, and that duty includes care in choosing who provides security. A property owner that hired a security firm with a known history of complaints and violent incidents can be held liable under a theory of negligent selection.
What You Can Recover
A civil claim can recover compensation across several categories.
Economic damages cover the measurable financial losses tied to the assault: past and future medical bills, ambulance costs, medication, physical therapy, and any surgery needed to treat your injuries.2Justia. Economic Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits Lost wages fall here too, as does reduced earning capacity if the injuries affect your ability to do your job long-term. Out-of-pocket costs like transportation to medical appointments and paying for household help during recovery are recoverable as well.
Non-economic damages compensate for harm that doesn’t come with a receipt: pain and suffering, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and loss of enjoyment of life.3Justia. Non-Economic Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits These are subjective and harder to quantify, but in cases involving serious physical injury or lasting psychological trauma they can be the largest portion of a recovery. Therapy records, journal entries, and testimony from people close to you all help support these claims.
Punitive damages may be available when the guard’s conduct was especially malicious, reckless, or showed a conscious disregard for your safety. They’re not meant to reimburse you. They exist to punish the wrongdoer. The threshold varies by state, but an unprovoked beating by a security guard is the kind of willful misconduct that can trigger them.
Criminal Case vs. Civil Lawsuit
The criminal and civil tracks are independent, and understanding that prevents a common mistake: assuming that if criminal charges don’t go anywhere, you have no options.
When you file a police report, the decision to press criminal charges belongs to the local prosecutor, not to you. If charges are filed, the case is tried under the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, the highest burden in the legal system. A conviction can mean jail time, fines, and a permanent record for the guard, but it does not directly compensate you.
A civil lawsuit is your path to money damages. You file it yourself, through an attorney, against the guard, their employer, and potentially the property owner. The burden of proof in civil court is a preponderance of the evidence, meaning you only need to show it’s more likely than not that the guard’s actions caused you harm. That’s a much lower bar than the criminal standard. A guard can be acquitted of criminal charges and still be found liable in a civil case for the same incident. You can pursue both simultaneously, and neither outcome controls the other.
Filing a Complaint With the State Licensing Agency
Most states require security guards to be licensed or registered through a state agency, often the Department of Consumer Affairs, Department of Public Safety, or a dedicated private security regulatory board. A formal complaint with the appropriate agency can cost the guard their license and can trigger an investigation into the security company’s training and hiring practices. Complaint forms are usually available on the agency’s website. This won’t get you compensation, but it can keep the same guard from harming someone else.
The Deadline to File
Every state imposes a statute of limitations on civil lawsuits for intentional torts like assault and battery. In most states the deadline falls between one and three years from the date of the incident, with two years being the most common window. Miss the deadline and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case no matter how strong the evidence is. A few states allow extensions in limited circumstances, such as when the victim was a minor or had a disability that prevented timely filing, but counting on an extension is a bad strategy.
The criminal statute of limitations is separate and typically longer, but since the prosecutor controls that process, your focus should be on the civil deadline. Talk to an attorney well before it approaches. Building a strong case takes time, and filing at the last minute puts you at a real disadvantage.
Working With an Attorney
Most personal injury attorneys who handle assault cases work on contingency, meaning you pay nothing upfront. The attorney collects a percentage of whatever you recover, typically 33% to 40%. The percentage usually sits at the lower end if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed and moves up if the case goes to litigation or trial. If you recover nothing, you owe no attorney fee. Case costs like filing fees, expert witnesses, and records requests are separate from the fee, and most firms advance those costs and deduct them from the final recovery.
Look for a lawyer with specific experience in assault or excessive force cases rather than a general personal injury practice. During the initial consultation, ask how many similar cases they’ve handled and what the outcomes were. Most consultations for these cases are free, so meet with more than one attorney before deciding.