A confrontation that started over a mask and escalated into a parking lot fight sent one man to a hospital and another to prison.
Shane Wayne Michael (pictured below), 42, followed Mark Dinning out of a Des Moines, Iowa, business on November 11, 2020, after the two exchanged words over Michael’s mask behavior, and the two then got into a fight during which Michael kneed Dinning in the nuts, spat in his face, and jabbed him in the eye. Dinning, who bit Michael’s arm, nearly lost the eye.
It was that injury, and the fact several witnesses identified Michal as the aggressor, that prompted a judge to sentence Michael to 10 years in prison. Michael’s dad blew off the altercation, saying “it’s like he got a black eye in a bar fight.” Maybe he’d Googled “bar fights” and found stories like this (7 years for fatal Florida bar fight) and this (5 years for fatal New York bar fight).
Perhaps the moral of this story is don’t mess around in Iowa. Also, wear your mask properly, when one is required. People do have a right to ask you to refrain from behavior that endangers them.
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Related story: Yep, they grow ’em mean in Iowa. Another Iowa man just a year in prison for making a death threat against New York Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler. Read that story here. Note: Telling someone you’re going to kill them isn’t free speech.