Tracey Thurman
Tracey Thurman
An incredible story about a surviving victim of domestic abuse against a woman is a connecticut house wife, Tracey Thurman. In 1983, After of 5 years of abuse, Tracey filed for divorce with her husband, Charles "Buck" Thurman. Buck had harassed, stalked and threatened her. Although there was a restraining order against him, he showed up to her house screaming how he did not want anyone else raising their 22-month old son. As reported by Republican-American "His wife called police. By the time Buck Thurman was arrested, Tracey Thurman had been stabbed in her face, shoulders and neck. Her husband's bootprint marked her bruised and bloody face. He had sliced three holes in her esophagus. Her lungs were filled with blood and she was dying." She was hospitalized for eight months.
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The act Buck Thurman performed that day caused the largely ignored issue of domestic violence to come to national attention. "Tracey sued the city of Torrington saying the police department failed to protect her." (Broderick) She won the case in 1985 and many laws regarding domestic violence were dramatically changed. It led to the 1986 Family Violence Prevention and Response act. As said by Konesky, "Family violence" means an incident resulting in physical harm, bodily injury or assault, or an act of threatened violence that constitutes fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury or assault between family or household members and dating couples. Verbal abuse or argument shall not constitute family violence unless there is present danger and the likelihood that physical violence will occur." (konesky) They also created a Lifetime movie based on Tracy's story called A Cry For Help: The Tracey Thurman Story. http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/a-cry-for-help-the-tracey-thurman-story
Chris Brown and Rihanna
(Thomson)
Another very public and shocking case is the domestic abuse case of Chris Brown and Rihanna. On February 8, 2009 Recording artist couple Chris Brown and Robyn "Rihanna" Fenty, who had just left a pre-Grammy party, got into a very heated argument. It was reported that Chris stopped their car and pulled over in a suburban neighborhood. As said by the source, Rihanna took the keys from him and tossed them out the window, which really upset Chris. After trying to find them outside, he returned back to the vehicle, wrapped his hands around her neck, choking her, and said, according to the source, "I'm going to kill you!" An unknown person somewhere in the surrounding area heard screams and called 911. Rihanna told police that she passed out, and when she regained consciousness, Chris had fled the scene. (Thomson)
(TMZ)
When found by police, Rihanna had some very serious facial injuries requiring her to be transported to the hospital.TMZ released pictures of Rihanna with multipule contusions on both sides of her face. There is serious swelling and bruising all over. She has a bloody nose and he lip. And as said by TMZ, "We have now confirmed there are bite marks on one of her arms and on several fingers." Chris later that evening turned himself into the police department and was taken under custody. After reports on this leaked to the public, most radio and TV stations removed any of Chris's music and advertisements and he was not seen at any large public events for sometime. (Thomson)
(Chris Brown)
On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats. On Jun 22, 2009 he finally plead guilty and accepted the plea deal of community labor, five years probation and domestic violence counseling. (Chris Brown) As reported by CBS news on September 28th, 2012, "Chris Brown has logged more than 1,400 hours of community service for the 2009... basically completing his sentence. The Associated Press has learned one-third of those hours were recorded at a rural Virginia daycare center where he spent time as a child and his mother once served as director."