COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Nearly 4,700 people in the United States become victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the span of an average Broncos game, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.<\/p>\n
For Doris Rivera-Black, that statistic is personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back, I can see that now. I can see, I, I really. You know, I was being warned. I was being shown this, this man was not safe, but I didn\u2019t, I didn\u2019t listen to my own instinct,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
Twenty years ago, Rivera-Black was a young mom of two girls, divorced, and living with a friend when she met someone who would change her life. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe would bring meals that he would cook and prepare for me and I thought, \u2018Wow, he\u2019s, he cooks, wow.\u2019 He would bring me gifts for my daughters,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
She said they dated less than a year and got married. It was shortly after that, Rivera-Black says things started to change. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a little more bold about his controlling behaviors, but he was subtle at first,\u201d Rivera-Black said. \u201cThen it got really strange. He would be jealous when I would spend time with my daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera-Bblack started the Academy with the El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office, achieving a life long dream of being in law enforcement. Something he didn\u2019t approve of. He started showing up at her work and his surveillance escalated from there. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe started hacking into my work emails. Trying to get me fired, awful things, pretending he was me,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
She thought she was keeping it between them until her 10-year-old at the time said she could hear their arguing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018I can\u2019t, I can\u2019t not allow my girls to think this is ok. I cannot continue in this and allow them to think this is healthy.\u2019 And, so I promised her that I would get us out of that situation,\u201d Rivera-Black said. \u201cThat was such a heroic thing for her to do. She saved her mama\u2019s life. She really did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not long after that, Rivera-Black made the decision to leave and contacted TESSA. They helped her set up a safety plan and waited for the time to enact it. When that moment came, she changed her locks, her bank account, and the way she took home from work every night.<\/p>\n
She also filed a restraining order, something that was denied the first time she tried. But this time, it was approved. <\/p>\n
\u201cI heard nothing from him for like a week and I thought, \u2018Hallelujah, this is great. Finally he\u2019s out of our lives.\u2019 Well, what I didn\u2019t realize is that he was planning,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
She called her mom who lived with her at the time to let her know she was on her way home from work, which was also part of her safety plan. But, when she pulled up to her house, and got out of the car, her estranged husband came toward her dressed in all black, held her at gunpoint, and ushered her to his waiting car. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the worst night of my life. He was yelling at me, screaming at me,\u201d Rivera-Black recalled. <\/p>\n
He drove her from Security-Widefield to Boone, east of Pueblo. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018This is it. This is it. I\u2019m done. I\u2019m done. He\u2019s going to kill me. And he\u2019s probably going to kill himself.\u2019 And, so, he raped me that night and all that training I had and I could not defend myself. I was paralyzed. I was paralyzed,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
They stopped at a convenience store on the way back home. Rivera-Black asked to use the restroom. She turned the water on, cried, and prayed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis peace came over me. Unexplainable. I can\u2019t explain it with words. It\u2019s just like instant peace washed over me. And I felt like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna be ok. I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to get out of this, but I\u2019m gonna be ok,\u2019\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
She got back in the car and took a sip of a drink he bought for her. When she said she needed something to eat, he grabbed his phone, her phone, and his wallet and went into the store. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut, he forgot to do one little thing. He forgot to take the keys with him. I hopped over to the driver\u2019s side. I didn\u2019t even fix nothing and he\u2019s tall. So, I\u2019m here with the steering wheels like here to me. So, I reverse it and he saw the lights move. As soon as he saw the lights move, he looked. And the look… I\u2019ll never forget the look that he gave me,\u201d Rivera-Black remembered.<\/p>\n
She said she drove north on I-25 as fast as she could. She was hoping she\u2019d be pulled over on the way home. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I got to my neighborhood, I saw all the, the lights, you know, I saw the lights, so I\u2019m like, \u2018Ok, they\u2019re they\u2019re waiting for me,\u2019\u201d Rivera-Black said. \u201cThe next morning they caught him, Pueblo PD, hiding in the cupboards of his dad\u2019s apartment cause his dad lived in Pueblo. And, he\u2019s been in prison ever since,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s helping to teach women to be prepared. She owns Renzo Gracie Colorado East Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and teaches a free women\u2019s Jiu Jitsu class every Thursday night. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be in headlocks, you can be in choking positions against the wall, you can be in choking positions on the floor, and you can escape that effectively. I have full confidence. That me or my daughter or any one of us can effectively defend ourselves now,\u201d Rivera-Black said. <\/p>\n
She said while escaping those situations is physical, a lot of it is mental. <\/p>\n
\u201cToo many women don\u2019t even believe that they\u2019re worth defending. Too many women have this sense of um. You know, maybe I deserved what was happening. Maybe I deserve what\u2019s happening, and that is a lie. That is a lie from hell,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Her estranged husband was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, among other charges. He\u2019s serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. <\/p>\n