Episode 541: Tracey Motuzick (Thurman)
In the early 1980s, Tracey Thurman left her abusive husband, Charles "Buck" Thurman. Despite obtaining a restraining order and repeatedly pleading with the Torrington, Connecticut Police Department for protection over an eight-month period, her complaints were ignored by officers. On June 10, 1983, Buck attacked Tracey outside a residence. He stabbed her 13 times in the face, neck, and body, and repeatedly kicked her in the head, causing a broken neck and permanent partial paralysis. Police officers arrived during the assault but delayed intervening or arresting him immediately. In 1984, Tracey filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, Thurman v. City of Torrington. She argued that the police department had violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection. Her legal team successfully demonstrated that police treated domestic disputes less seriously than assaults committed by strangers. In 1985, a federal jury ruled in her favor and Tracey’s case changed the way Connecticut and the US viewed domestic abuse cases forever.
Sources for this episode:
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/595/1521/1683702/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurman_v._City_of_Torrington
https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Torrington-s-Tracey-Thurman-Motuzick-honored-as-16906571.php
https://www.courant.com/1992/03/15/tracey-thurman-motuzick/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/05/18/maimed-wife-strikes-blow-for-justice/
https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Torrington-s-Tracey-Thurman-Motuzick-honored-as-16906571.php
https://elizabethmjohnson.substack.com/p/40-years-ago-tracey-thurman-changed
