what would you do?

if you witnessed domestic violence in plain sight?

I’ve written a lot about domestic violence disputes, but recently I became involved in one.

I shared the entire story on our latest episode of Synced not because I wanted to, but because my co-host Monica, asked me to. As a chronic over-sharer, it’s not really like me to hesitate to speak about anything. But I was tepid in this instance, because I wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing. Because data is my coping mechanism, I tried to research the answer but even then, it wasn’t exactly clear. So in the spirit of showing up more truthfully, and having difficult conversations that bring us closer together, here’s my very imperfect story.

A few weekends ago, I went to Walgreens with my roommate, and as I waited for her in the car, I witnessed the beating of a pregnant woman. At first, I tried to only verbally interject, but when that didn’t stop her abuser from punching her and shoving her in the car, and that he was attempting to drive away with her, I used my body to physically try and stop him. I stood in front of the car, shouting loudly, as he tried to back up and leave. While it worked at first and made him hesitate and stop, he ended up going around me and just speeding away. I screamed and collapsed to the ground. “He’s going to kill her,” I told the 9-11 operator before my phone fell out of my hand and onto the concrete. I was in a complete state of shock. Several other people around me witnessed the scene too, why didn’t anyone else help?