Republican lawmaker arrested in Lansing on felony charges • Michigan Advance

Michigan State Representative Neil Friske (R-Charlevoix) was arrested in Lansing in the early morning hours Thursday on a felony charge.

Lansing police responded to a report of a man with a gun and possible shots fired around 2:45 a.m. Thursday, Lansing Police Department Public Information Director Jordan Gulkis said in a statement to Advance payment.

“Our officers responded quickly and contacted everyone involved,” Gulkis said. “One defendant was arrested for a serious crime.”

Gulkis confirmed that Friske is still in jail as of Thursday afternoon.

The Northern Michigan deputy is currently under investigation, and the agency expects to present the case to the Ingham County District Attorney’s Office on Friday for consideration of possible charges.

Friske, 62, is one of the most conservative lawmakers in the Michigan Legislature and a member of the right-wing extremist Freedom Caucus.

At this meeting, the Freedom Caucus tried to blame The first black Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, Joe Tate (Democrat of Detroit), claimed that he “advocated discrimination” for the passage of a state budget that included grants for minority-owned businesses. The group’s other efforts included Strengthening the power of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Michigan

During his first term, Friske introduced Efforts To Repeal the VOther right to abortion And require libraries that contain “obscene or sexually explicit content that is harmful to minors” must have an age restriction on how young people can view the material.

Recently, Friske and his Freedom Caucus colleague, Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), were the only no votes against Legislation to criminalize non-consensual deep fake pornographywhich is often used to blackmail and shame womenBut is also used To create nude pictures of minors.

Friske faces a challenge from Parker Fairbairn of Harbor Springs in the Republican primary on August 6. The winner will face Democrat Jodi Decker in the Republican-favored district in November.

In a post on one of Friske’s Facebook accounts on Thursday, an official statement from his re-election campaign team said the timing of the incident was “highly suspicious” because it occurred before voters would receive their mail-in ballots for the upcoming November primary election for all seats in the state’s House of Representatives.

“This morning we were notified that Rep. Friske is being arrested and detained. As many of us know, Rep. Friske always exercises his 2nd Amendment rights. We have no details other than what the media has gathered, oddly before any of us knew,” the post reads. “We ask everyone for prayers and to stay tuned for updates directly from this campaign or from Rep. Friske himself. Thank you for the outpouring of concern and unwavering support we received this morning. Rep. Friske has clearly overachieved in this race.”