movie poster

“Telling Amy’s Story” will be shown on Thursday October 21, 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Rd, in the Heritage Center room.

This Penn State Public Broadcasting film relates the timeline leading to a domestic violence (DV) homicide of Amy McGee by her husband Vincent that occurred on November 8, 2001, in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Amy’s coworkers did not suspect the abuse she was living with and she was killed at home.

Sponsored by Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse and Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month (October).

“In April 2008, two outstanding and respected organizations – Brewster Center Domestic Violence Services (founded in 1963) and Tucson Centers for Women and Children (established in 1975) – came together to form Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse. Emerge!, the largest domestic abuse shelter and provider of domestic abuse prevention services and programs in Southern Arizona, includes:

* Two emergency shelters
* Two housing programs
* Two outreach and advocacy centers
* An accredited community-based childcare center that is open to the public
* Prevention, education, and volunteer programs”. (from the Emerge! website)

DV is a serious crime and occurs much too often even here in Pima County. I’ve worked as a staff attorney for an Americorps D.V. Victims’ Advocacy project and was also the Interim Director & Commissioner of the now-defunct Tucson Domestic Violence Commission. And I know that judging an abuser’s lethality is not usually possible, and the victim is often too frightened to report any abuse. And it takes the victim on the average of 5 times to leave her abuser. In Amy’s case she could not/did not leave.

“One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime”, according to the National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

This is a free showing to bring awareness to domestic violence as too often family/friends don’t know how to help a suspected victim.
Light refreshments will be served.

For more info contact the Pima County’s Office Victim Services Division at 520-740-5525.
Emerge! Crisis Line/Linea de Crisis – 1(888) 428-0101.

* THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE at 1-800-799-7233
* THE NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT HOTLINE AT 1-800-656-4673
* THE NATIONAL TEEN DATING ABUSE HOTLINE AT 1-866-331-9474