CHICAGO — For more than an hour last Friday, a South Shore woman said she lived in fear of a violent death at the hands of her former boyfriend, who allegedly had forced his way into her apartment, brutally beat her and threatened her life.
The woman said she received a literal lifeline during the afternoon attack as she was punched in the face, beaten with a mop handle and received a broken right hand and nose. Someone from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office called to warn her that the ex-boyfriend — who had been ordered to stay away — hadn’t shown up at a scheduled court hearing that day.
“At the time, I had two thoughts in my mind: I said either I’m going to die or I’m going to get out,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told a Tribune reporter in a telephone interview several days after the latest attack. “And I got out,” she said, her voice cracking.
