domestic violence and in this case, the thin blue line

i wanted to post this particular story because it was a couple of thousand miles away. i wanted to post it because it was a tragedy. i wanted to post it because it could have (AND SHOULD HAVE) been prevented.

i wanted to post it because this happens in every state and it happens far too often (this morning i read about a man in connecticut beating up his pregnant girlfriend. nice, huh)

there have been a lot of incidents of domestic violence in connecticut of late. two within the past few weeks. one woman died, the other escaped.

we need better protection and we need better laws.

we cannot continue like this

we will NOT be victims

Kristin Maxwell's Lonely Death

By KELLY THORNTON

Friday, July 10, 2009 | After San Diego County sheriff's Deputy Lowell "Sam" Bruce shot his wife in the face in front of their 4-year-old son, Kristin Marie Maxwell-Bruce was able to walk to the kitchen phone and dial 911.

As she waited for medical help on that December evening in 2006, Kristin was alert and talking -- but it was with some difficulty because the bullet had destroyed half her tongue and the left side of her jaw.

She told her mother she was worried about her teeth; her mother assured her they could be fixed. Upon arrival at the Alpine home, medics found that Kristin's vital signs -- pulse, body temperature, blood pressure and respiratory rate -- were within normal range.

But Kristin's family claims a shocking series of blunders and delays by Sheriff's investigators and medics resulted in a lonely and unnecessary death an hour later for the 38-year-old mother of two.

The evening was capped by a violent encounter between deputies and Kristin's distraught father -- a sequestered witness who was pepper-sprayed, clubbed and handcuffed when he tried to leave sheriff's custody to tell his wife that their only child was dead, according to the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in December 2007 by Kristin's parents, Jim and Kay Maxwell.......