Domestic abuse victim speaks out

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Two days after her attack, Ashley Valdez has trouble walking.

She needs all the support she can get, and just wants to be at home with her three daughters. She was picking up her youngest from her ex-boyfriend, 22-year-old Jesus Tafolla, in the Lemoore Police Department parking lot when she says his current wife hit her in the back of the head. "And as I'm trying to cover my face I get hit in my ribs and that's when I went to the ground," Valdez said.

While on the ground, she says they punched and kicked, leaving her badly cut and bruised. She says her aunt called police. "She provided the name of the suspect who assaulted her," said Lemoore Police Commander Margarita Ochoa. "After that officers made contact with the suspect and they placed him under arrest and booked him into the Kings County Jail."

Valdez declined to go to the hospital then, but says she was taken to Kaweah-Delta Hospital after passing out and having a seizure.

There, doctors treated her for a concussion, damaged nerve, bruised rib and broken nose. Tafolla is not currently listed on the Kings County Jail inmate list, and Valdez thinks he bailed out. "I think once I know that he's in jail and he's getting what he deserved the right way then I'll be safe and I'll feel comfortable," Valdez said.

Even though she doesn't feel safe now, she feels she has to speak up. She hopes her message will get through to someone.

"But it's not too late for them, you know there's still a chance for them to get out and they don't deserve that, no woman deserves to be hit or touched by a man, or afraid of a man. It's our lives, not theirs," Valdez said.

Valdez says a final custody court appearance is scheduled for this month. She's hoping she gets full custody and is able to stay as far away from Tafolla as possible.

Lemoore Police say their office next to the parking lot is closed on Saturday's and say from the time they were dispatched, officers arrived in one minute.

This evening Action News received a call from Jesus Tafolla. Although he admits being arrested, he says this was a fight between Valdez and his wife. He says he tried to stop it, didn't touch Valdez, and had no reason to hurt anybody.