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ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — REAL News Michiana has obtained text messages from the St. Joseph County Council Attorney appearing to show his role in attempting to cover up and justify a violent attack against a member of the council he is supposedly meant to represent. The message was only meant to be sent to FOUR Republican members of the council, however, council attorney Jamie O’Brien accidentally sent the message to the entire NINE member council and the council secretary.
“Please do not let Jackie (Horvath, St. Joseph County GOP Chair) equate Dan and Amy when you meet tomorrow and make it clear that Amy is great and the problem is 100% Dan.” O’Brien wrote in the text message at 6:14pm on Tuesday night.
“Sorry and embarrassed. Obviously I did not intend to send that to all of you. My apologies for the distraction.” O’Brien wrote exactly one minute after the first message was sent.
O’Brien was obviously telling four of the Republican council members to come together to blame Councilman Dan Schaetzle for the incident which led to St. Joseph County GOP Vice Chair Joe Layne violently assaulting him at the monthly GOP meeting this past Saturday. The message was to reinforce a united front against Schaetzle when discussing the issue with St. Joseph County Chairwoman Jackie Horvath.
BACKGROUND
On Sunday, RNM broke the story about Vice Chair of the St. Joseph County Republican Party, Joe Layne, violently attacking Republican County Councilman Dan Schaetzle during the party’s monthly meeting on Saturday morning. In what was supposed to be a celebration of GOP wins this election cycle, some party members and party leaders instead used it to attack fellow conservatives both verbally and physically. RNM has confirmed the Mishawaka Police Department is investigating the incident.
According to 20 different witnesses who spoke to RNM, the incident started when County Councilwoman Amy Drake took to the podium during the meeting to lambast fellow Republicans who do not agree with her platform (which includes defunding the St. Joseph County Police Department). Drake took direct aim at Schaetzle, who worked diligently to make sure our county officers got the raises they deserve. According to witnesses, Schaetzle called out Drake during her speech, attempting to correct several lies she was telling the audience of GOP members.
Schaetzle then took to the podium, where he passionately defended himself and a large faction of the party who has not been happy with the direction of the GOP’s leadership. After two minutes, Schaetzle was told his time was up. Schaetzle told the GOP leadership team that he was going to continue. At that point, GOP Vice Chair Joe Layne stood up and ripped the microphone out of Schaetzle’s hand, breaking it. Schaetzle then turned to speak to the audience without the microphone. At that point, Layne physically shoved Schaetzle.
The incident was caught on camera by radical school group leader, Ashley Leader and later posted online by radio host Casey Hendrickson who is attempting to justify the attack. That video can be seen below.
According to witnesses, a well-known local MMA fighter (who RNM will not name) jumped into the middle of the two men, telling Layne to back off as it appeared he was going to continue his physical assault. Schaetzle said a few more words before leaving.
“It all started because of Amy Drake.” One witness told RNM. “Everyone was stunned. We were supposed to be celebrating, uniting under the wins. Drake just wanted to fight.”
“Adults should be able to disagree without violence.” Another witness told RNM. “Joe (Layne) should resign. I hope he’s charged with a crime, he definitely committed one.”
Schaetzle suffered from back injury during the incident and was hospitalized for a short time.
According to sources at the Mishawaka Police Department, the case will be referred to an MPD detective. From there it will be sent to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of felony battery charges.
It’s important to note, there were more than 100 people who attended the meeting. Meaning there are more than 100 witnesses to the attack.
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