Ex-Wife Rams Ex-Husband's Car While His Three Kids Are Inside--Don't Call It 'Domestic Violence,' Though
August 22nd, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
I've noted on countless occasions that when a woman commits domestic violence, we don't call it "domestic violence." In this story, Rebecca Harvey allegedly rammed her ex-husband's car while their three children were in his car.
She's been arrested, and is being charged with felony charge of reckless conduct and three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. I'm sure she will probably be sentenced to a fine of at least $25 and a minimum of a half hour of community service. It will hurt her in family court, too--possible sanctions include a disapproving look from the judge.
Beyond Rebecca Harvey's violence--which, since it was committed by a woman isn't really violence at all and will not be treated as such--she's a real charmer. She's an attorney and, according to the story, during her divorce:
"In spite of her membership in the N.H. Bar Association and law degree, Rebecca asked the court to rule she should not have to work outside the home while their children were minors and cited depression as limiting her ability to work. The court ruled her depression was short-term and brought on by the divorce — which included splitting $2.9 million — and ordered her to establish an income source.
"She also asked for alimony for life and argued that $3,000 a month in alimony — in addition to $6,000 a month in child support — was insufficient."
Rebecca Harvey's chump mother-in-law and father-in-law also loaned her and her ex-husband $275,000 while they were married, and she won the right in court to stiff the elderly couple.
The domestic violence story is below. A previous story about their divorce can be found here.
Mom reportedly rams car with kids inside
By Elizabeth Dinan
August 21, 2007 1:27 PM
PORTSMOUTH — A local lawyer who took her multi-million dollar divorce to the state Supreme Court is facing four criminal charges alleging she rammed her car into one driven by her former husband with their three children inside.
Rebecca Harvey, 44, of 48 Ball Street, was arrested July 4 by Portsmouth police on a felony charge of reckless conduct and three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
According to the complaints, filed by Officer Adam Kozlowski, Harvey placed her former husband — Islington Street dentist Paul Harvey Jr. — “in danger of serious bodily injury” when she “used her vehicle to push his vehicle while he was inside.”
The three counts of child endangerment allege she “purposely violated a duty of care” by endangering the welfare of their three children who were in Paul’s car when she struck it with hers.
In April of 2006, the couple’s divorce proceedings became public when the N.H. Supreme Court released a decision on their cross appeals of seven decisions made by a lower divorce court.
In spite of her membership in the N.H. Bar Association and law degree, Rebecca asked the court to rule she should not have to work outside the home while their children were minors and cited depression as limiting her ability to work. The court ruled her depression was short-term and brought on by the divorce — which included splitting $2.9 million — and ordered her to establish an income source.
She also asked for alimony for life and argued that $3,000 a month in alimony — in addition to $6,000 a month in child support — was insufficient.
Harvey was scheduled for an August 21 Portsmouth District Court hearing on the endangerment charges, but with permission from Judge Stephen Morrison, the case was continued until September 25.
"));
19 queries. 0.422 seconds.
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
"...and ordered her to establish an income source."
WOW! From everything we see coming out of Family Court, for all practical purposes, judges NEVER order this.
On the other hand, men are routinely ordered to get a better paying job and the child support amount is immediately set at the new fictitious level of income. In less than 30 days, the ex-husband is behind in an amount he will never get ahead of without borrowing from parents, siblings, and friends.
To those living in New Hampshire, get some letters off to the DA and the newspaper, including the reporter, asking why the charge of Domestic Violence was left out. Did women’s groups unduly influence how she was charged?
DanH
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
It's the same bias that sends men to jail after Social Services visits their homes, even if there is no endangerment, and causes social workers to say "It doesn't rise to the level of a home visit" when you report a woman for neglect. We have been rounds with Social Services recently over the deplorable conditions in which my husband's children live exactly half of the time. Social Services pretty much turned a blind eye because it was "less than ideal" but "not concerning enough to send someone out." Read my post on "It's Just Animal Feces -- What's the Big Deal" on my blog for the details. However, SS has not hesitated a single time to come to our home and investigate my husband at the ex-wife's behest. That has happened eight times now (yep, 8... count 'em) in the past seven years. It's because she MUST be the victim and he MUST be the big, bad, mean man. I'm sure she'd be a MUCH better Mom if he would just quit harrassing her (in case you can't hear it, that last bit was dripping with sarcasm)... and neglect isn't nearly as egregious as abuse, right?
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Pre-Nups, and no children until the marrige has passed its 5th aniversery
Imagine how many problems that would slove, imagaine how many problems a male birth control pill would solve
One thing though, she rammed her car into another vehicle containing 3 children, why in gods name was her hearing deffered a month????
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I live about two miles from this newspaper in the same city. My comments in their blog on this article, largely in response to some reader comments are below:
"We all have breaking points, and we all have the ability to be compassionate." If it was the father intentionally slamming into the mom's car, I suspect the story would have received much different coverage and commentary. When women commit violence its more often than not (1) something a man should be able to take; (2) 'justified', like a when a woman slaps a man across the face (God forbid the reverse happened); (3) the result of 'red pump trauma' as when the preacher's wife in TN or KY got blasted with the shotgun in bed, and then got watch by her for 20 minutes as he died; (4) apparently she's not smart enough to use the sexist, corrupt 'family courts' for what they're presently designed for ... destroying and killing fathers, while the children get exploited and maltreated by single parent moms in a typically much crappier parenting environment. ** I refer to the children of divorce often as 'chatteldren' a combination of an old term for property and children. ** Women have 'emotional and mental illness reasons' why they assault and kill their men and children; whereas, men are just described 'vicious and heinous' ... because after all, they are men. However, isn’t it that most criminals grow up with single parent moms, so who is really teaching the child about violence? (NH DYCS, US DOJ) ** As for "a messy divorce", for children virtually ALL divorces are messy. Their world centered on their two parents in their daily life is DESTROYED. **
NH-SAFE articles of interest are at http://www.altrue.net/site/vip/section.php?id=3037 .
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Why is the charge not attempted murder? And assault with a deadly weapon? (The car, not the mentally ill "lawyer".)
And why exactly is it that the "family" court feels this "woman" should have custody of actual, living children?
Isn't all evidence of a history of violence towards anyone important to weigh in any custody decisions?
So why is she getting custody?
And why has the bar disciplinary organization of NH not commenced disbarment proceedings against this "lawyer"?
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:04 am
(Why is the charge not attempted murder? And assault with a deadly weapon? (The car, not the mentally ill "lawyer".)
And why exactly is it that the "family" court feels this "woman" should have custody of actual, living children?
Isn't all evidence of a history of violence towards anyone important to weigh in any custody decisions?
So why is she getting custody?
And why has the bar disciplinary organization of NH not commenced disbarment proceedings against this "lawyer"?)
Ahhhh... finally a simple string of questions to answer. She is a WOMAN and incapable of doing anything wrong. Somewhere along the line we will find out that a MAN somewhere , somehow, on this great earth did SOMETHING to make her do this.
Quite simple :-(
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Mike said,
"...However, isn’t it that most criminals grow up with single parent moms, so who is really teaching the child about violence?"
Here's a kid who won't grow up at all, after the Mom left her toddler with the boyfriend:
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/13954708/detail.html
I hope my ex-wife never brings in a boyfriend, otherwise I may need to pay a pre-emptive visit for a chat about the consequences of laying a hand on my sons.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am
He was 19 years old. Probably never cared for a child in his life. Why isn't the mother being brought up on charges for leaving her child with an unqualified caregiver? Don't these mothers need to also be held accountable for their choices?
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Well it's not about money is it? (sarcasm)
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 am
"Rebecca Harvey's chump mother-in-law and father-in-law also loaned her and her ex-husband $275,000 while they were married, and she won the right in court to stiff the elderly couple."
I wouldn't be surprised if she sues her mother and father in law for child support.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:16 am
The dentist is paying $2000 per child / per month, plus a ridiculous alimony to a woman who already has a professional career. Sometimes I thank God that I stopped and stagnated at the bottom of the corporate ladder. When my marriage started to go really bad, I knew that working harder would only hurt me in the long run
I pay $385 per child plus medical, and can't keep up. In some ways, though the most highly accomplished men have it worse. In Family Court, the bigger you are the harder you fall.
I know Glenn doesn't like people to defend Darren Mack, but you know the guy was worth $9 million, and was maintaining a 3rd generation family business. Two years later, he was broke and bankrupt at the stroke of a pen. Is that what you get for 3 generations of striving and hard work?
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:35 am
The woman also got a $1.5 million payout derived mostly from property which belonged to her In-Laws. There seems to be no rational process to protect the interest of the people who worked for their property. There's no check on the power of these judges to abrogate long standing ownership laws. OK I'm done
August 24th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Pre nups, or better yet place your assets in a trust wich is specifically excluded in the terms of a pre nup
August 28th, 2007 at 10:00 am
just another example of how women are pathologized for their actions rather than be held accountable. not calling it "domestic violence" leaves room for excuses of alledged abuses and mental illness (mary winkler and her PTSD; pedophile debra lafave and her bipolar; andrea yates and her post-partum psychosis). as long as women continue to be let off and not held to the same standard as men in our legal system (ie - he WOULD have been charged with attempted murder, as someone previously noted), society will continue to invest in the belief system that women are weak, vulnerable, unable to protect themselves, etc. women seem to think this works for them, when in actuality, the real consequence is an open door to predators (female and male) who pursue those tagged as victims (females and males). it sickens me that so many people are invested in this belief system and cannot for the life of them recognize by common sense how it only sets up scenarios for abuse to occur. what is the payoff, ladies, for being taught from early childhood that you will be victimized, because "statistics show," because you are a female, because "men are perverts," etc. is it money? is it some type of sick status? being able to walk around and call yourself helpless? just to say you're a "survivor"? a convenient excuse? a "get out of going to jail" card? even pedophile debra lafave alledged she was a victim of an emotionally absent father and an alledged "rape" (which she repeatedly refers to as "my rape" - i wonder what dv counselor taught her that one) by her junior high sweetheart which motivated her actions to offend against a barely pubescent boy because it prompted her to "have to please men".....
i know i'm only stating the obvious, but my frustration with this domestic violence b***s*** makes me feel, well, like a victim *gasp*
August 28th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
"...felony charge of reckless conduct and three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child."
What is this world of "Equal Justice For All" coming to? If this were a man guilty of this, it would be "Domestic Violence" instead of "felony charge of reckless conduct and three misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child." This is equivalent to the woman who killed her husband by running him over and over again. She probably got off as well.
Does this not smell of the small amount of jail time Mary Winkler did for murdering her husband in cold blood? And she is trying to get her children back from her in-laws Dan and Diane Winkler claiming that her children will have been scarred, as was Anna Mae He when she was returned to Jack and Casey He, her parents.
There is no justice in a land that tips the balance the scales of justice and destroys families on the whim of a violation of the Ninth Commandment "Thou shalt NOT bear False Witness against thy neighbor!"
August 28th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Men in New Hampshire beware before you say “I DO” the family court system in the live free or die state is nothing but a joke and the joke is on us!
December 13th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
[...] Ex-Wife Rams Ex-Husband's Car While His Three Kids Are Inside--Don't Call It 'Domestic Violence,' Th... [...]