Every day, Dallas police respond to a disheartening number of domestic violence calls, too many to note. In 2011, there were 13,000 instances of family violence, most of them assaults. Last year, 26 women were murdered by their partners.
Yesterday's alleged thuggery took police to Great Trinity Forest Boulevard, where a 19-year-old woman's boyfriend picked her up from class. They sat together in the back while someone else drove. A police report tells the story:
He asked her for money. She gave him some. She asked to be dropped off at the Ledbetter DART station. That's when he became upset, the woman told police. "I can't trust you. You sending vibes to my friends," she recalled him saying. The woman, seven months pregnant with his child, replied with a dismissive, "Really."
This sent the boyfriend into a rage, she said. He reached over and slapped her hard, then punched her in the left eye. Then, she said, he reached across her and opened the rear passenger door, trying to shove her out. She resisted until he landed another blow to her face, sending her tumbling onto the street as the car moved at about 25 miles per hour, she said.
The woman survived, but she landed hard on her right side. Police arrived a short time later and could see the swelling in her face already. They don't detail the extent of her injuries, but she was taken to Baylor Medical Center for an exam.
As for her boyfriend: He was gone by the time police arrived and wasn't immediately arrested. Safe to say, though, that Mayor Rawlings has officially revoked his Man Card.