Thursday night, about 6:45. I'm brushing my teeth in preparation for the meeting of the condo association, of which my fiancee is secretary-treasurer. Over the running water I hear a knock on the door, the rattling of glass, and a male voice talking. He's gone when I come out of the bathroom, and I ask who it was.

"R," said my fiancee, referring to our condo board president. "He wanted to borrow some wine glasses. Jesus, do you know that the girl downstairs got beat up by her boyfriend last night?"

"What?"

"Yeah, you know, J. down in 102. Her boyfriend D., the tall guy, apparently. R. said he was up all night talking to the cops, since he's right underneath them and heard everything."

She didn't have the details, of course, since R. hadn't stayed long. So she grabbed her notebook, I put my shoes on, and we walked down the two flights of stairs to R.'s garden apartment, where we would be having the meeting. After greeting us as cheerily as ever, R. told us the story. I was horrified, but also ashamed.

What I had heard as "Please...(incomprehensible)...please" had actually been J. saying "Police...R., call the police." R. had knocked on their door after hearing those thumps and bangs, but having a more direct vantage point he had also heard, "Stop it, D. Ow! That hurt! Stop, stop, stopstopstop you're choking me!!!" When he knocked on the door, D. had stood in the doorway of the unit blocking her in while she clawed desperately to get past him and escape.

R. went downstairs, called the police, then called B., the board's vice president who lived in the other building of our complex, as reinforcement. B. rushed across the courtyard and up the stairs, knocked on the door, and caught D. as he was coming out with his keys in his hand--essentially fleeing the scene. B. thought faster than I could imagine; she grabbed the keys away from him with one hand and closed J.'s door with the other. D. couldn't get back into the apartment and he couldn't get away. By this time the police had arrived, and R. was giving them a statement. They took D. away.

R. stayed up all night comforting J. and went with her to court in the morning while they both took out a restraining order. Not only must D. stay away from J., he cannot come within 100 feet of the condo property.