You may have heard by now that, over the weekend, someone drove a car into the Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma Capitol lawn.
Oklahoma police already have a suspect in hand: Michael Tate Reed Jr. Reed is supposedly a Christian who claimed Satan made him drive into the monument. That wasn’t all he said this weekend:
Reed was detained after showing up later at the federal building. He was rambling and making derogatory statements about President Barack Obama.
Authorities believe Reed is mentally unstable. He’s undergoing an evaluation. Investigators say he admitted to damaging and urinating on the monument. Reed said the devil made him do it.
Specifically, Reed said over the weekend that he has been “diagnosed with Bipolar and… was off his medication.”
As I said before, I hope he gets the treatment he needs, and I’m selfishly breathing a sigh of relief that he’s not an atheist hell-bent on some weird sort of revenge.
This morning, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol explained the charges against him:
Reed has been charged with a felony count of destruction of state property/improvements, a felony count of indecent exposure, a misdemeanor count of making threatening statements, reckless driving, and operating a vehicle with a revoked license.
Reed was also charged with four counts of felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, which stemmed from incidents that occurred during his initial emergency order of detention on Friday, according to the OHP.
No word yet on how severe a punishment would be (or how long a jail sentence) if he’s convicted.
