Man Allegedly Urinates On, Crashes Into Oklahoma's Controversial Ten Commandments Monument; Says Devil Made Him Do It
A man is now under mental evaluation in Oklahoma after allegedly urinating on and crashing into the controversial Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol.
The man was identified in The Oklahoman as Michael Tate Reed Jr., 29, and allegedly confessed to U.S. Secret Service agents during an interview on Friday.
Secret Service Special Agent David Allison said Reed, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was taken into custody Friday after he made threatening statements at the federal building in downtown Oklahoma City.
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Reed reportedly threatened to kill President Barack Obama and spat on a picture of the president in the Oklahoma City Federal Building. He later told agents that Satan instructed him to urinate on the Ten Commandments monument then destroy it.
John Estus, spokesman for the state office of management and enterprise services, told The Oklahoman that the monument was knocked down at about 9 p.m. Thursday. It is unclear, however, if guards stationed at the Capitol witnessed anything at the time the monument was toppled.
The vehicle that crashed into the monument was discovered abandoned at the scene and was later towed away by authorities.
"Investigators will continue to look into the case and coordinate with the Oklahoma County district attorney on Monday for any possible criminal charges," said Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. George Brown.
He said "Reed was taken to an Oklahoma County mental facility for an emergency order of detention and mental evaluation."
The monument, a gift from state Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, has been the subject of much controversy due to its religious nature.
The American Civil Liberties Union has charged in a lawsuit that the monument's placement on the capitol grounds is in violation of the state constitution's prohibition against use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion."
The lawsuit was dismissed in September but the ALCU filed an appeal in the state supreme court Thursday.
The destruction of the monument has elicited outcry from as high as the state's Gov. Mary Fallin who pledged to help raise private money to fix the monument.
"This monument was built to memorialize the historical significance of the Ten Commandments in guiding our own laws and lives," Fallin told The Oklahoman. "It is absolutely appalling that someone would vandalize anything at the Oklahoma state Capitol — the people's building — much less a monument of such significance. The person or people responsible for this crime will be caught and held responsible."
Ryan Kiesel, ACLU of Oklahoma executive director called the monument's destruction outrageous and offensive.
"Our Oklahoma and federal constitutions seek to create a society in which people of all faiths and those of no faith at all can coexist as equals without fear of repressions from the government or their neighbors," he said. "Whether it is politicians using religion as a political tool or vandals desecrating religious symbols, neither are living up to the full promise of our founding documents."
Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the New York-based Satanic Temple who has been pushing to get a satanic monument at the Capitol also decried the incident.
"We do not want our monument to stand alone," he said. "If our monument stands at the state Capitol, we want it to complement and contrast the (Ten) Commandments, with both standing unmolested as a testament to American religious freedom and tolerance."
