A woman who was being dragged to her car in a headlock by her husband wrote an emotional open letter to the man who intervened and saved her life.
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, posted the letter on Reddit, describing the situation and why it’s so important for people to intervene when they see something odd happening.
“You likely don’t realize that you saved my life, but you did,” she wrote.
She explained that she was dragged by her husband in a headlock to the car, and was too scared to cry out, for fear that he would get angry and do something worse to her.
She hoped that someone would intervene, and in this case, someone did.
“My husband is a large intimidating man,” she continued. “You are an average, somewhat timid looking man. As you held the hand of your little son, it must have crossed your mind that intervening could be dangerous and would certainly be uncomfortable.
‘”Hey! You can’t do that dude”.
“Your voice stopped not only my husband in his tracks, but several other nearby patrons. My hope of rescue began to build.
‘”Fuck off bro, this is my wife”.
“My husband quickened his pace. The car was 15 feet away. Fear sunk back into my heart.
‘”I don’t care who she is, you can’t do that.”‘
The man intervening caused several people to turn around and stare, and all of a sudden, her husband stopped in his tracks. She pointed out that as bad as it looked in the parking lot, it was even worse behind the scenes.
“What you didn’t know is that I’d been trapped in the abusive relationship for years and that my husband had become absolutely unhinged in the last couple of days, showing levels of violence and anger I’d never seen in him.
“What you didn’t know is that for the previous 32 hours he had kept me from my phone, my computer, my car, and any contact with anyone.”
She was able to get away and call the police and her mother, and now her mother is making sure she is somewhere where he can’t find her.
She finished the letter by saying simply, “Finally, I am free. Thank you, stranger.”
