Patty Fakkema knows the truth behind the cliche that domestic violence isn’t a private matter, but a problem that can affect a community. She’s learned this lesson firsthand.

Fakkema, a 40-year-old mother of three, says she wants to tell her story before a potential lawsuit “muddies the waters” and turns her hero cops into defendants.

On June 16, Fakkema’s life was changed by a next-door neighbor who she never met. She was asleep in her Oak Harbor condominium when she heard a body hit the wall from the condo next to hers. Angered, Fakkema jumped out of bed and walked next door to give her neighbors a piece of her mind.

But a “blood curdling scream” and the voice of a woman begging for her life changed her mind. Instead, Fakkema grabbed a cellular phone and called 911.

The call may have helped saved the life of 30-year-old Mary Ann Pearsall.

According to to the Oak Harbor Police Department, Officers Ron Hofkamp and Pat Horn arrived to find 26-year-old Connie Pearsall wielding a knife in each fist, standing over his wife and stabbing her. The officers screamed at him to stop and sprayed him with pepper-spray. But as the Navy petty officer stabbed her once more, the officers shot and killed him.

Mary Ann Pearsall was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and treated for three stab wounds and a broken jaw. An investigation by the county coroner, an internal investigation in the police department and the findings of a two-person firearms review board concluded that the use of deadly force was justified.

Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said the results of a toxicology test on Connie Pearsall was “significant,” but the information can’t be released to the public without family permission.

So Fakkema says she was “livid” when she received a phone call from an attorney hired by Connie Pearsall’s mother, who’s considering suing the city and the officers. The attorney questioned her about the night and has requested records from the police department.

Fakkema says she is upset that Connie Pearsall’s family would try to turn the abuser into a victim and belittle such extreme violence against a woman. Also, she says the officers have been through enough.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “The officers saved a woman’s life. … I don’t know what I would have done if they (officers) weren’t there. I just would have had to sit there and listen to her being murdered.”

Connie Pearsall’s mother, Delores Pearsall, said Tuesday that she’s looking into the possibility of filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, but she didn’t want to comment on the potential allegations.

According to Fakkema, she’s had to listen to the Pearsalls fighting “a couple times a month” since the couple moved in next to her earlier this year. She says she could hear how explosively angry Connie Pearsall could become, but the fights never got bad enough that she needed to call 911.

But on June 16, Fakkema was witness to unthinkable events. Fakkema says she could hear Connie Pearsall yelling and swearing from where she was standing in the parking lot. She heard the woman scream and then start to beg.

“She was actually pleading for her life in a tone I can’t describe,” Fakkema said. “I wanted to do something.”

The police arrived soon after she called and immediately went up to the apartment. Fakkema heard them yell to Pearsall to put the knife down twice. Then she heard the shots ring out. In terror, Fakkema ran back to her home to make sure her sleeping children were all right. The Pearsall’s big scared dog followed her.

After the terror and anger passed, Fakkema said she recently wrote a brief letter to Delores Pearsall.

“As a mother I know that what ever my kids do, I’ll love them,” Fakkema said. “But instead of bringing this all up in court, she might want to hold onto the loving memories.”