A mild mannered woman whose baseball player boyfriend was caught on CCTV video assaulting her in a stadium stairwell says she regrets not pressing charges.
Fabiana Perez, 21, tells Univision she should have pressed charges against Houston Astros prospect Danry Vasquez after he savagely beat her in a stairwell at Whataburger Field in August 2016.
The vicious beating was captured on video and leaked online this week.
Moments after they entered the stairwell, the video shows Vasquez hauling off and violently pimp-slapping Perez. He is seen slapping her and pulling her by her hair down the steps.
Vasquez backhanded Perez so hard that he knocked off her eyeglasses.
At one point Perez is seen cowering in a corner of the stairwell after Vasquez slapped her without warning.
Perez finally got tired of being abused and the couple broke up several months after the beating.
She tells Univision she wishes she had the confidence to walk away when her ex-boyfriend hit her the first time.
“When there is a lack of mutual respect, things change, things get out of control,” she said. “That’s why you always have to maintain respect, values [and] communication in a relationship.”
Vasquez, who signed a contract with a $1.2 million signing bonus with the Detroit Tigers at age 16, was arrested after prosecutors viewed the video in 2016. But Perez refused to testify against Vasquez and the charges were dropped.
Vasquez was cut from the Houston Astros feeder team this week when the video surfaced online.
Perez and Vasquez began dating when they were teenagers. The couple dated for 7 years before they split up.
Vasquez is now married to another woman.
