When you are forced to live in a situation where their is absolutely no peace, it teaches you to never allow yourself to be that vulnerable again. It’s a horrible feeling to be trapped and not sure how to fix the circumstance.
I got tired of being slapped around, of being knocked across the room, of being dragged. No human or animal should ever have to endure that from another human. Still today, after 40 years, if I see a movie where a woman is being abused by her husband, my heart races because I know what it feels like.
In a situation where you have six sets of eyes watching you, waiting for you to make a move is living in entrapment. The money was gone, so there’s not much you can do without anything. That van turned out to be my saving grace. The Lord was watching over me when I bought that. What I thought later was a stupid purchase, saved me in so many situations.
Anyway, my first attempt to run ended in disaster. After a particularly bad fight scene between me and Jesse, I made a run for the van and took off down the interstate ignoring all speed limits. Not even considering the possibility of police trying to pull me over for speeding.
Trying To Escape Resulted In An Unintentional High Speed Chase
In my mind, all I could think of was getting away, going home back to Virginia. I had absolutely nothing with me but I was driving wide open on the Interstate. One police car soon multiplied into nine and all of them were chasing me, with lights flashing trying to get me to stop. I glanced at the gas in the van and it was below quarter of a tank. Running on fumes basically.
I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. The fact that nine police cars were chasing me didn’t phase me. I was going to get off at an exit and get some gas. Gas was cheap back then and what little cash I had would give me about a quarter of a tank. So that’s what I did. I exited and pulled into a gas station right off the Interstate. Needless to say I was surrounded by the police cars, blocked in. A couple officers approached my driver’s side door, slung it open and grabbed me out of the seat. They turned me around and pushed me against the front side of the van, slapping handcuffs on me.
Taken In For Questioning
I don’t remember feeling scared at all. Not knowing what was actually going on, I guess I was relieved to be in the presence of the police. I recall sitting in a chair at the police intake office and explaining trying to get away from my husband. The officers realized what I had been going through and let me stay in the office. They never tried to lock me up in a cell that night.
Their only alternative was to call someone to come pick me up. I didn’t know anyone except the Hartman’s, so I called Janice. Janice and Jesse showed up a couple hours later, and the officers let me walk out with them. The van had been impounded so I had to go to the impound the next day to get it out.
Nothing was ever said. I was taken back to the Hartman house and it was as though nothing had ever happened.
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