PART I - GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 3. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF JUSTIFICATION

§3.04. Use of Force in Self-Protection.
(1) Use of force justifiable for protection of the person. Subject to the provisions of this Section and of Section 3.09, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself or herself against the use of unlawful force by such other person on the present occasion.
(2) Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.
(a) The use of force is not justifiable under this Section:
(i) to resist an arrest that the actor knows is being made by a public officer, although the arrest is unlawful; or
(ii) to resist force used by the occupier or possessor of property or by another person on his or her behalf, where the actor knows that the person using the force is doing so under a claim of right to protect the property, except that this limitation shall not apply if:
(A)the actor is a public officer acting in the performance of his or her duties, or a person lawfully assisting the actor therein, or a person making or assisting in a lawful arrest; or
(B) the actor believes that such force is necessary to protect himself for herself against death or serious bodily injury; or
(iii) to resist force provoked by the actor himself or herself with intent to cause physical injury to another person, except that if the actor initially uses non-deadly force and the other person responds with deadly force, the actor may be justified in resisting such deadly force, subject to the provisions of this Section and of Section 3.09. This provision does not, however, exempt the actor from liability for the initial use of force.
(b) The use of deadly force is not justifiable under this Section unless the actor believes that such force is necessary to protect himself or herself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat; nor is it justifiable if:
(i) the actor, with the purpose of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against himself or herself in the same encounter, unless the actor completely withdraws from the conflict and successfully communicates that to the victim; or
(ii) the actor knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using such force with reasonable safety by retreating or by surrendering possession of a thing to a person asserting a claim or right thereto or by complying with a demand that the actor abstain from any action that he or she has no duty to take, except that:
(A) the actor is not obliged to retreat from the actor's dwelling or place of work, unless he or she was the initial aggressor or is assailed in his or her place of work by another person whose place of work the actor know sit to be; and
(B) a public officer justified in using force in the performance of the officer's duties, or a person justified in using force in the officer's duties, or a person justified in using force in the officer's assistance, or a person justified in using force in making an arrest, or preventing an escape, is not obliged to desist from efforts to perform such duty, effect such arrest, or prevent such escape, because of resistance or threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person against whom such action is directed.
(c) Except as required by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Subsection, a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity of such force under the circumstances as the person believes them to be when the force is used, without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act that the person has no legal duty to do, or abstaining from any lawful action.