A Different Approach To Spousal Abuse and Domestic Violence……

On a warm summer evening in 1974, while slipping down US 24 in Lafayette County in my cruiser, I fell in behind an obviously intoxicated driver in an older pickup truck. The stop was uneventful, however, I could see there was serious discord between the intoxicated young driver and his young, pregnant wife. After arresting him, I placed the wife in the back seat of the Patrol car, as she didn’t drive, and off to the county jail we went. So far, no problems. (The jail was also the living quarters for the sheriff in those days, and a kitchen area was between the dispatch area and the drunk tank where my drunk was headed for the night). The wife was seated in the kitchen with a cup of coffee awaiting a ride home from a friend she had called. Then the wheels came off.

My Corporal at that time was one David D. LePage a living legend on the Patrol. DD (we were big on initials back then) was a big guy, mostly jovial and extremely capable as an officer. He had a half measure of patience and a refined sense of right and wrong which resulted in a colorful career on the patrol in later years. (David later became a criminal investigator and superb polygraphist, trained in New York.) David had entered the jail, just in time to see my drunk slap his wife out of her chair as I walked him back to the tank, through the kitchen. It happened quickly, but not as quickly as DD’s response to the drunk’s conduct. David grabbed my drunk and body slammed him into a kitchen counter and in a millisecond closed both his eyes and bloodied his nose. The drunk resisted DD’s efforts to control him, and it only got worse for him. When we left him in the drunk tank, he was moaning softly, lying on a bunk, and I am sure wondering if he was going to live through the night. The wife was okay, with a deeply bruised cheek and was conveyed home. The only counseling the husband received was from our sheriff, Gene Darnell, assuring him the next morning that if we received notice of continued abuse towards his wife, the night before would seem like a picnic in the park. The sheriff meant it, believe me. The drunk, standing in front of our magistrate judge several weeks later was contrite and placed on further notice that any further spousal abuse would result in his being invited to spend a year in the jail where his earlier, momentary lapse of consciousness occurred. Women beaters are not easily retrained, in my experience, and I have often wondered where this couple ended up.

What is the point here? The beat goes on. We are inundated with examples of spousal abuse and domestic violence on a daily basis, criminal activity that most often results in a paltry response from an over burdened court system. David LePage died a young man in 2013 after a great career on the Patrol and a second career as an insurance investigator. He made a difference, if only for a minute, in the budding career of an abuser made to absorb a punch that would have made Ali proud. My point is that criminal activity deserves a swift response, or the activity only gets easier for the criminal. If we do not return (impossible?) to the days of swiftly meting out justice, we are giving our society away….

I was privileged to serve with some of the finest officers to ever don a uniform, guys like David LePage who left a storied wake on the Patrol. Officers who could laugh deeply but respond swiftly when the occasion merited such a response. There were no cameras in those days and the courts stood solidly behind the officer…..unlike today. I have said it before and it is worth repeating, I wouldn’t last a week out there today. Thanks, David……for placing one abuser on the other end of the stick. Rest in peace, brother…..

Have a good week!

SR