Let Us Be Heard

by Tony Diamante

Dan was my attendant, as well as a very close friend for years. On this particular occurrence, I had made a decision to move out and start a new life with a woman that I had fallen in love with.

On this last morning of Dan’s duties as my attendant, he came in to my room to get me up and showered for work, like he usually did. He put me in the tub, and ran the water. As he was washing me with soap, he started getting more and more aggressive with me, while he scrubbed my skin with the wash cloth.

I looked up at him as if to say, “Hey, take it easy will ya!” He just looked back at me, with contempt in his eyes. Then he poured a half bottle of shampoo on my head, and scrubbed my scalp in a violent rush. I was in shock. I didn’t know what had gotten into him. It was as if I was being washed by a psychopath. He then banged my head against the hard tiling of the bathroom wall, and I almost lost consciousness. He kept cursing me saying that I had cheated him out of his job and wages – because I had made a decision to move out. Then his voice became loud, as he rinsed me off with freezing ice-cold water that he took out of the fridge. That freezing cold water felt like a million icicles going through my body, yet, I was more shocked at how he had just snapped. Here was a guy that I’d known for ten years, and at one time was as close to me as a brother. Now, he was actually physically abusing me.

He yanked me out of the tub, carried me in to my room, and practically body slammed me to the carpet floor. As he dressed me, he kept kicking me while I laid there on the floor. He kicked me once in the head, and a few times in the ribs. I knew if I fought back, he would have gotten even more violent. I just took his physical abuse, and hoped he would finish dressing me so I could get out of there without being seriously injured.

When he finally finished dressing me in a violent manner, he shoved me out of the apartment door, and I pushed myself to the elevator. I was still in shock as to what had just happened. I regained my senses, and went on the bus to work. I thought to myself, as I was in the wheeltrans bus, “I should report him to the police, but I have no proof and the police will probably not believe me”.