Every single day in Dallas brings a dismaying number of reports of men beating their wives and girlfriends, which is what's fueling Mayor Mike Rawlings' crusade against domestic violence. But the message he delivered at his recent City Hall rally apparently hasn't yet sunk in for everybody.
In the early hours this morning, when believers are hypothetically supposed to be reflecting on the death of Jesus and his legacy of nonviolence, many men in Dallas were behaving in a decidedly non-Christian way and, yes, beating their significant others. These incidents, culled from Dallas police reports, aren't unique. As we mentioned, they're disturbingly typical. But they provide a reminder, on a supposedly holy day, at how entrenched the domestic violence problem is.
South Dallas, 12:38 a.m.: A police report provides few details except that a man hit his 47-year-old wife/girlfriend with a potted plant and chased her with an ax.
North Dallas, 1:25 a.m.: A 21-year-old woman and her boyfriend were arguing at Sherlock's on Central Expressway when they were asked to leave. Another bar patron, fearing the woman was about to get beaten, followed the couple to the parking lot where the boyfriend pulled out a knife and held it to his girlfriend's throat while threatening to kill her and the bar patron. He also threatened to kill two uniformed Dallas police who arrived. He was arrested and taken to Lew Sterrett.
South Dallas, 1:30 a.m.: A man punched his 45-year-old girlfriend several times in the face as they stood on the sidewalk at 4400 Malcolm X Boulevard.
Far North Dallas, 2:30 a.m.: A 47-year-old woman and her boyfriend began fighting over his marriage to another woman. The argument escalated, and he pushed her, then punched her in the stomach, then wrapped both hands around her neck. She blacked out and didn't come to until police arrived. The man was arrested for assault.
East Oak Cliff, 3:20 a.m.: A 26-year-old woman called police and reported that her boyfriend or husband "struck her several times with a belt in the legs, causing bruises, cuts and pain." He also pushed her head into the wall, "leaving a dimple in the sheetrock," according to police.
Oak Lawn, 3:30 a.m.: Officers were called to a kidnapping in progress on Oak Lawn. They tracked down the suspect to the Cafe Brazil on Central Expressway, where he was dining with his supposed victim, his 25-year-old girlfriend. They'd been at a club and began arguing about one of her ex-boyfriends. The man had then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into his BMW convertible. The woman said she didn't want to press charges, but police placed the boyfriend under arrest anyway.
