Irresponsible knife-wielding copper

[tortoise]

First, no, its not an assault because there was no injury. Second, since it occurred in private, had the guy been a civilian nothing would have come of it. Just like two kids horsing around in a locker room. Only the fact that the "victim" was a cop, so knew the law, resulted in an arrest. Otherwise it would have been one guy making a complaint against another guy, no injury, and most likely no arrest. Third, had he been a civilian it would have gotten zero press. There would be no discussions about "how bad civilians are", how "this is the problem with civilians", etc. Fourth, military personnel have no special rights or privileges that are not shared by civilians and are subject to all the same laws and then some (UCMJ.)Fifth, if we all killed our co-workers as cavalierly as you suggest, every time one made a comment or gesture like "I'm gonna' kill you..." then the workplace really would be dangerous.