{"id":30901,"date":"2023-10-31T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/domestic-violence-deaths-in-colorado-are-at-an-all-time-high-for-the-second-year-in-a-row-according-to-a-new-report\/"},"modified":"2023-10-31T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T14:00:00","slug":"domestic-violence-deaths-in-colorado-are-at-an-all-time-high-for-the-second-year-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/domestic-violence-deaths-in-colorado-are-at-an-all-time-high-for-the-second-year-in-a-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Domestic violence deaths in Colorado are at an all-time high for the second year in a row, according to a new report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A domestic violence survivor stands outside the Jefferson County courthouse where she pursued an extreme risk protection order against an ex-partner. Jan. 19, 2023. (Kevin J. Beaty\/Denverite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attorney General Phil Weiser and Bridget Dyson, a domestic violence survivor who serves on the Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, which produced the report with Weiser\u2019s office, recently shared the findings with Colorado Matters host Chandra Thomas Whitfield.<\/p>\n

The report found that 94 people were killed in domestic violence-related incidents in Colorado in 2022. Among those, 39 were killed by their current or former intimate partners. Another 22 were collateral victims, including six children. Two peace officers also lost their lives while responding to domestic violence calls.<\/p>\n

The total number of domestic violence deaths in Colorado was almost one and a half times higher than the average number of deaths since data collection started in 2017, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do have to acknowledge that we\u2019re not 100% sure that we\u2019re apples to apples from 2017 to today because it\u2019s possible that we\u2019ve gotten better at recognizing domestic violence fatalities,\u201d said Weiser, who chairs the board. \u201cSo, the 94 that we captured in 2022 could have been because we\u2019re seeing deaths for what they are. Part of the challenge is there\u2019s such a stigma. There\u2019s shame and sometimes people could die in a domestic violence situation and we might not know it and that\u2019s something that we want to work on; more awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a scar you carry on the inside\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dyson shared her nightmarish domestic violence experience. In December 2016, Brighton Police found her lying in a pool of blood between two vehicles in the parking lot of the Sterling Park Apartments.<\/p>\n

She was so severely injured that officers initially believed she had been brutally bludgeoned with a weapon. Further forensic evidence showed otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ran over my head (with my car) and then he ran over it again; brains everywhere,\u201d recalled Dyson. \u201cLiterally, he stuffed me under my son\u2019s car and took off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dyson was transported to a hospital and was immediately put into a medically-induced coma, launching her extended recovery journey which included her skull cap having to be rebuilt with the use of her right leg. She credits God, or \u201cthe man upstairs,\u201d as she puts it, for helping her pull through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should not be here,\u201d she said. \u201cI have titanium drilled in my head. I\u2019ve had four surgeries. I have titanium in my knee. I have 17 scars. I was in an induced coma for almost six months, and coming out of that coma, you look at yourself and you\u2019re just like, \u2018Where did all this time go? Who is this person?\u2019 And you have to start all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dyson\u2019s ex-husband was eventually convicted of first-degree attempted murder after deliberation as an act of domestic violence and is currently serving a 35-year sentence. She has since dedicated her life to supporting other survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all intents and purposes, I look normal, but for any victim who\u2019s gone through domestic violence, it\u2019s a scar you carry on the inside,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s findings underscore the importance of Colorado\u2019s red flag law, Weiser says<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the board\u2019s analysis, 97% of the domestic violence victims were women and 95% of the perpetrators were male in 2022, highlighting the gendered nature of these crimes.<\/p>\n

The analysis also found that nearly a quarter of domestic violence-related fatalities in 2022 were minors, which included communities losing six children ages 16 and under.<\/p>\n

Also, in fatal domestic violence cases in which the domestic violence perpetrator died, 70% of the perpetrators died by suicide. Perpetrators were also killed by law enforcement, victims and bystanders.<\/p>\n

Consistent with the board\u2019s previous analysis, firearms were the leading cause of death. Eighty-six percent of the domestic violence deaths were the result of firearm injuries. All of the domestic violence perpetrator deaths involved guns, while 73% of the domestic violence victim fatalities and 86% of the collateral deaths were due to gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n

Weiser said it underscores the importance of law enforcement intervention and enforcement of Colorado\u2019s Red Flag Law, which allows law enforcement, family members and a select list of others, to petition the court for an extreme risk protection order, or ERPO, to temporarily take away the guns of anyone deemed a threat to themselves or others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this means is when someone is looking like they could be a perpetrator of domestic violence looking like they could be a threat, it\u2019s essential that we remove the firearm,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that can save lives, by removing firearms. We have a law that calls for relinquishment of firearms by perpetrators of domestic violence. That law unfortunately isn\u2019t always working as it\u2019s intended. One of the conclusions of our report is, how do we ensure it works better than it\u2019s working now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous Colorado Public Radio<\/em> reporting has found that domestic violence survivors have been \u201cdisillusioned\u201d with the red flag process.<\/p>\n

As for Dyson, she says she\u2019s thriving now and she hopes sharing her story and the board\u2019s work, including releasing this report, inspires those experiencing domestic violence to take on the gut-wrenching process of leaving their abuser.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is part of the healing I want to give back,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to let other victims know; say something, it doesn\u2019t have to be that bad. Get out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A domestic violence survivor stands outside the Jefferson County courthouse where she pursued an extreme risk protection order against an ex-partner. Jan. 19, 2023. (Kevin J. Beaty\/Denverite) Attorney General Phil Weiser and Bridget Dyson, a domestic violence survivor who serves on the Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board, which produced the report with Weiser\u2019s office, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,923,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-domestic-violence","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30901"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}