Is tapping someone on the shoulder considered assault?
No. It can be in the right circumstances, but it doesn’t sound like it from that fact pattern. Assualt is legally defined as: 1) an intentional act (note that the ACT needs to be intentional, ie you MEANT to tap her shoulder, so there was intent.) 2) that causes plaintiff to exerience reasonable apprehension of immediate harm or offensive conduct. (Key here is reasonable. Would a reasonable person have thought that you would hurt her in those circumstances? Probably not.) 3) Where the defendant knew that his conduct would likely cause an apprehension of harm. (Clearly not present in this case.) Note that she would also have to show damages (the classic law school case of assault is guy waves a gun at someone else, and the victim has a heart attack.) Hope this helps.
