NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- For the first time, we're hearing from the man in a controversial domestic violence case.
The case - and how it was handled - triggered a dramatic and public feud between a Nashville judge and the police chief.
But the defendant, David Chase, has a very different story about what he says really happened.
Chase's story is contained in an order of protection, obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, that he just filed against the woman who brought the charges against him.
In it, he portrays himself as the victim.
Chase is a man who, as far as the public knows, beat up his girlfriend, got arrested and then, after being released, beat her up again. The incident prompted a war of words between the judge who ordered Chase to be released early and the Metro police chief.
In the petition, the 37-year-old contractor claims she is the one who "harassed, stalked [and] assaulted him," making "false statements to police."
The truth, he says, the 24-year-old woman was upset that he had broken up with her and forced her to move out.
In addition, the defense filed video in court showing the woman coming and going from Chase's apartment, apparently trying to raise questions about whether her behavior is the behavior of a woman who had really been violently assaulted.
Of course, it's tough for anyone to know what really happened inside the Elliston Place apartments in the early morning hours of June 8th.
His story: she had been repeatedly calling him and harassing him.
At one point, "when I pushed the button to tell her again to leave me alone, she burst through the front door," Chase writes.
He adds, "I repeatedly asked her to leave. When she finally would not leave, I grabbed her phone and her purse and threw them into the hallway."
He continues, "When she went to retrieve them, I locked her out of my apartment."
That's when she had him arrested.
Her story: he had let her in and then suddenly turned violent, dragging her by the ponytail and throwing her out of the apartment.
Chase's petition claims she used the arrest to get back in and that she had repeatedly tried to enter various passwords to get into his phone, causing it to be locked out.
So when he returned home and found her there, "I went to my phone to call for help, but my phone was disabled from her attempts to hack into it."
He claims, "She punched me in the face several times."
When he went to find her phone, "she began striking me in the back [of] the head and grabbing for the phone, which broke during the struggle."
So why is Chase just now filing for an order of protection against her, more than a month later? Is it revenge? Or something else?
He tells the court that she "continues to stalk me," claiming that he is "scared for my life, my safety and my well-being."
Privately, some in law enforcement worry that this could be designed to intimidate the victim.
While we can't say who's telling the truth, it's now very clear that there is definitely "her story" and "his story."
Chase was on house arrest.
The defense just convinced prosecutors to lift the house arrest.
He will still be wearing a GPS and an alcohol detector, which the DA's office says will protect the woman.
"In the interest of not re-victimizing the victim by putting her through another lengthy court hearing, our office agreed to lift the house arrest requirement as part of the bond conditions," DA spokesperson Susan Niland said in an email.
