The Elusive Batterer:
Client serves restraining order with the aid of the API unit.

One of our API staff attorneys assisted Ms. C, a API language-speaking client, who was brutally beaten by her boyfriend and left unconscious. Luckily, a neighbor heard the commotion and called the police. When the police arrived, Ms. C was unconscious and the boyfriend had fled the scene. Our API staff attorney represented Ms. C in court, helping her file a restraining order, but her boyfriend could not be found. He managed to elude the police who wanted to arrest him and the sheriffs who wanted to serve him with the temporary restraining order.

The neighbors reported seeing him in a restaurant one day, or on the street the next day, but nobody could pinpoint him to any one place at any time. We enlisted the help of our API staff member. She left a message on his cell phone using the boyfriend's native language, asking him to meet her. Because she was speaking to him in his native language, perhaps he let his guard down. He appeared at our office and we were able to personally serve the TRO papers on him. Ms. C was able to get a permanent restraining order because she was finally able to serve him, and is now living free from his violence with her four children.

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