Chicago Gets Googled
Friday Flashback - Old School Oprah
Today's Transgender Day of Remembrance Honors the Dead
Asian Carp: 'Nice Try, Suckers'
Friday Afternoon Diversion: Earth With Rings
It's been a strange tale for Chicago Police officer Michael Mette. In October 2005, while visiting his brother in Dubuque, Iowa, Mette - who was off-duty at the time - got into a fight with 20-year-old Jake Gothard and punched him, breaking Gothard's nose, cheek and jaw. In 2007, Mette was convicted of assault and sentenced to five years. In September, Mette asked for a dismissal of his charge from the Iowa’s Court of Appeals; a ruling could be issued as early as tomorrow. Some of Mette's more high-ranking supporters include Mayor Richard Daley, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine, Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis. Recently, Brenna Ehrlich of Windy Citizen exchanged correspondence with Mette and asked him about the fight, his trial, and his current incarceration. Of his sentence, Mette says:
I am in prison right now because of the corruption inside a Dubuque courthouse. Just read the Judge’s ruling and then Iowa’s code 704.3. How can anyone, let alone a Judge, tell someone, “I understand that you were attacked by this person, but you had no right to defend yourself.” This case has never made much sense to me. Why have laws set in place if we are not wiling to abide by them? And if we cannot trust those who govern to uphold these laws then should we not put someone else in office?Click here to check out the rest of the excellent interview, as well as a list of more Mette-related reading.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Oh boohoo! Poor little guy gets in trouble and doesn't think he should be punished. That's what happens. Ohhhh...that's right,he's a cop. He can get away with anything as long as his boys back him up.
The only reason he's getting any attention is because he's a cop. If it was someone else we'd never hear about it. What's an adult doing at a party with a bunch of underage kids drinking anyway? Since he's a cop shouldn't he know how to restrain someone or diffuse a situation. Instead he hits a kid so damn hard he breaks half of his face. Maybe a stint in Dubuque is the best place for him.
Fuck him and fuck cops that think they're above the law. Have fun in the pokey you fucking douchebag!
Maybe this cop will be back on the force and treat citizens with the humility that he has learned by being a victim of the system.
A most valuable education....
Get some medication for the above commenter.
As for Officer Mette, he shouldn't have thrown that punch. I have followed this story from the beginning, including some of the coverage in the Iowa papers, about this story. I don't buy Mette's story that he feared for his safety from the drunk.
Furthermore, to unleash a bone-crushing punch was more force than the situation required.
Mette screwed up...and, by the way, he and his friends were the likely instigators of the intitial quarrel.
Nevertheless, I don't think Mette committed a crime. If it was a crime, it certainly wasn't a felony. Mette and his family have suffered enough. Let's hope tomorrow's ruling goes his way.
I agree Mette was stupid to put himself in the situation of getting into a drunken fight. But he wasn't the aggressor and the fact is that the kid from Iowa had a glass jaw and was so drunk that the fall probably injured him more than the punch.
I don't think he should be in prison but hopefully this taught him a lesson about at a certain point you have to leave the drunken college BS behind you.
LOL@ people tripping over themselves to defend this guy.
Drunk douchebag fight in which someone simply gets their ass kicked and nothing is injured but pride= No felony.
Drunk Douchebag fight in which someone sustains severe injuries to to the face resulting in a trip to the hospital, several doctor visits and various things being rewired= Assault
Do I think he should serve 5 years? No, the guy apparently was defending himself but I don't think that he should get a slap on the wrist either. Anyone on this forum getting into a fistfight and causing injuries of this sort would be looking at either jail time or probation. Why should he be held to a different standard?
Fuck him and fuck cops that think they're above the law. Have fun in the pokey you fucking douchebag!
Spoken with the courage and conviction only a computer screen can provide.
When your home (or tent or yurt or whatever pile you've rested from the other vagrants) is robbed I assume you call the police, yes?
Fuck all cops is as profoundly ignorant a statement as "cops are always right".
5 years seems a little crazy. but he broke his nose, cheek and jaw? that sounds a little crazy, too.
definitely need to punish this guy. that sort of violence sounds like more than defending himself. and that kind of stuff needs to be checked. but not to the tune of 5 years.
still scary, though.
What have we learned today? Shoot at a cop in Chicago, three years in prison.
Get into a fight with a drunk in Iowa and hit him, five years in prison.
I'm not sure which is the bigger travesty, but something is wrong.
@Smussy
The "victim", quotes because he initiated the conflict by all accounts, fell on concrete. I broke my collar bone just falling at a funny angle on the sidewalk. He started snoring, meaning he was knocked unconscious, indicates he thumped his head pretty hard. One good solid punch, landed well can drop someone HARD and do real damage.
Hey Albanyparkour...you're glass lens prescription needs to be updated.
I said and I quote " fuck cops that think they're above the law"
Not "fuck all cops". Understand now? There's a slight difference between what I typed and what you read.
"Maybe this cop will be back on the force and treat citizens with the humility that he has learned by being a victim of the system."
Not if that person is from Iowa!
There is no way this guy deserves five years. He tried to walk away from the situation, and the other guy followed him to his house. If you're not allowed to defend yourself at your own house while being attached, where can you defend yourself? And to the guy who said, "to unleash a bone-crushing punch was more force than the situation required", I call bullshit. He was getting attacked after someone followed him to his house, so he punched the guy, once.
Something just isnt right here. I dont care what the details are, the judge agrees it was self defence and still convicts of a FELONY. And 5 YRS. This smacks of small town corruption. If this was in KY he could have shot him dead and been within his rights. everyone involved may have used poor judgemant in some form but bottom line, you get drunk and act like a fool you might just get what asked for