Testosterone terrors

Last Monday I thought I was reading the same story in my newspaper four different times. These are all local tragedies from Salt Lake City and surrounding areas. Times are tough out there, and it seems to bring out the worst in some guys. Whatever triggered these bozos they made sure that their women and kids had to suffer.

The headline read, "Man charged with terrorizing woman for 3 days." A man suspected his wife of an affair so he bound her, kept her locked in the house for three days while he beat her and choked her, telling her it was "time to instill some fear into her," and "make her suffer." He then held a 10-pound barbell over her two-year-old boy's head, saying "Tell me the truth or I'll take him out. I know it will hurt you if I take him out." After three days of this abuse he left to get a gun so he could come back to shoot her and her son. She got away and reported him. Like, he expected her to hang around to get killed? Police found this brave guy cowering at his mother's house and arrested him. He was charged with two first-degree felony counts of aggravated kidnapping, two third-degree felony counts of aggravated assault, third-degree felony commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child and interruption of a communication device, a class B misdemeanor. His mother was charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Our second fine specimen of manhood choked his girlfriend and told her, "You're going to watch yourself die." He grabbed her by her hair and threw her on the couch, all while her two-year-daughter watched. He choked the woman until the two-year-old screamed. He was booked into jail on charges of aggravated assault and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child.

The third case of testosterone fury is of a 32-year-old man, angry with his girlfriend, who while driving punched her repeatedly in the face. He then choked her into unconsciousness and when she woke up he told her he was driving her to a town 30 miles west of Salt Lake City, "to kill her." After a few more punches he eventually drove her home to Salt Lake City, where he was arrested and charged with third-degree felony assault and unlawful detention, a misdemeanor.

Another yo-yo who thought his wife was having an affair shot her three times in the face in front of their 11-year-old daughter. He will appear in court on first, second and third-degree charges. The wife was still alive at the time of the news story.

Ladies, in spite of this litany of man at his worst, my hometown is not full of murderers, face-punchers, hair-pullers, chokers and shooters. But apparently we have a few, and for a few days there was a bizarre explosion of domestic violence in my area. It's sometimes blamed on the bad economy, but there is never an excuse for brutality, no matter the economic conditions.