ROCKLAND — A Rockland District Court judge has issued a temporary Protection from Abuse Order to the alleged victim in the Don McLean domestic abuse case.

According to the court document filed Jan. 19, and her handwritten statement about the incident and past alleged abusive incidents, the 56-year-old woman said that McLean "terrorized" her for four hours on Jan. 17, until she saw an opportunity to flee off a bed, grab her cell phone and run into the bathroom "just clicking the lock shut in time."

She wrote that McLean tried to break down the bathroom door and had he succeeded, she said she felt he would have killed her. She said his attempts to come through the door ceased when she told him she was calling 911, but he still stood just outside the door until the call was made.

Camden police arrested McLean, 70, at his residence early Monday morning, Jan. 18. Police responded to a 911 call from the home shortly before 2 a.m. and following an investigation, charged McLean with one count of domestic violence assault. McLean was taken to Knox County Jail in Rockland, where he posted $10,000 unsecured bail and was released pending an arraignment in February.

On Jan. 19, the alleged victim, who PenBayPilot.com is not naming, filed the complaint for a PFA in court seeking to bar McLean's return to the family home on Hope Road (Route 105) and to bar him from having any contact with the victim, among other requests.

In support of the request, the victim alleged that during the 30 years of their relationship, McLean "has/had a violent temper."

"For the first 10 years or so, his rage was unfathomably deep and very scary - calling me horrible things like 'hebe' (I''m Jewish)," she wrote.

The victim alleged that in looking at a photo of herself dating back to 1990, she saw bruises covering her legs. "Characteristically, he would squeeze my arms and legs hard enough to leave ugly bruises," she wrote.

She also recalled an evening during that time period when she thought McLean "would kill me in a raging bull rage... he pressed the palm of his hands against my temples and squeezed as though my head were in a vice. I called 911 on this occasion."

The victim also wrote that McLean's temper "and deep-seeded rage" did subside over the past 20 years ago (sic) - due I think to the stability of a family life." But she wrote that the last assault "was a carbon copy of the one in 1994 - down to his squeezing my head at the temples so hard that two days later my head still aches at the point of contact."

During Sunday's incident, the victim said that in addition to being verbally abusive to her, McLean "began his old trick of squeezing hard on my flesh, also grabbing my chin and jerking my face toward him to force me to look at him."

She wrote, "He was scaring me with the intensity of his rage and the craziness in his eyes and I told him he needed to cool out or I would call 911."

She wrote that as the "physical assaults" did not stop, she reached for the landline phone and he reached over too, and threw it to the floor, out of her reach.

"As I tried to leave the bed on which we were both sitting, he held my arm hard and staring into my eyes said, 'I want to strangle you so bad.' He also said things like 'I am going to deck you," she wrote.

In granting the temporary PFA to the plaintiff, McLean is prohibited from having any contact with the plaintiff, directly or indirectly; prohibited from imposing any restriction upon the person or liberty of the plaintiff(s); prohibited from threatening, assaulting harassing or otherwise disturbing the peace of the plaintiff; prohibited from repeatedly and without reasonable cause, following the plaintiff or being at or in the vicinity of the plaintiff's home, school, business or place of employment; prohibited from entering the family residence or premises of the separate residence of the plaintiff's on Hope Road in Camden; and prohibited from taking, converting or damaging property in which the plaintiff may have legal interest.

McLean is also prohibited from possessing any firearm, muzzle-loading firearm, bow, crossbow and any dangerous weapon(s). He is also prohibited from possessing any knives.

While it remains in effect, a violation of the temporary order is a class D crime, and nobody, including the plaintiff, can give McLean permission to violate the provisions, according to the court document. The temporary PFA was signed into effect by judge Susan Sparaco.

A hearing on the plaintiff's complaint for an extended or permanent PFA is to be held on Jan. 28 at 8:30 a.m. in Rockland District Court.

Related link:

• Camden police arrest singer-songwriter Don McLean for domestic violence

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.