Iowa man gets 10 years in jail for face mask beatdown

An Iowa man will spend the next decade in the slammer for attacking and spitting on another man who asked him to wear his mask correctly.

Shane Wayne Michael received a 10-year jail sentence for the incident last November in a Des Moines eyewear store, where he saw red after another customer requested that he pull his face mask up to cover his nose.

The 42-year-old was said to have followed the victim, Mark Dinning, out of the store to the parking lot, before knocking him to the ground, gouging his eye and kneeing him in the groin, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Michael then reportedly coughed in Dinning’s face and spat on him, yelling “If I have it, you have it!” in reference to the COVID-19 virus.

The Saylor Township resident had claimed that Dinning started the fight by shoulder-checking him and poking him in the stomach outside the store, the Des Moines Register reported.

Michael also said that he only jabbed the victim in the eye after being bitten as the two men wrestled on the ground.

However, another customer and a store employee who witnessed the attack corroborated Dinning’s version of events.

Michael was convicted last month of wilful injury causing serious injury, a class C felony, and sentenced on Wednesday.

Michael’s father, Dennis Michael, expressed disbelief over the length of the jail term handed out to his son.

“It’s like (Dinning) got a black eye in a bar fight, and now my son is getting 10 years in prison,” he told the Capital Dispatch.