Punches have a long-lasting impact

Most people don’t know this, but the first night I ever came to Des Moines I was the victim of a violent crime. I had only been in Des Moines 16 hours when I was beaten unconscious, robbed of everything in my pockets and took my first ever trip in an ambulance. I received a CAT scan (that my insurance left several thousand dollars for me to pay myself) and was treated like a criminal by both hospital staff and police for the crime of showing generosity to a punk who caught me off-guard at the end of a night on the town.

A Register article featuring talk of leniency for someone who punched a store clerk who “suffered four broken bones in his face” and then stole from him is misguided at best [2 bottles, 2 punches, 10 years in prison, April 3]. I have never punched someone in the face and I have never robbed someone. Every person on this planet has their own cross to bear, suffering the highs and lows of life. How we deal with those peaks and valleys is up to each of us.

To use the cover story of the state’s biggest paper to attempt to create sympathy for a guilty criminal is ludicrous. I was beaten in the face and head that night two years ago and suffered a severe concussion. I spent the next six weeks waiting for my left eye to focus and to regain my balance, which, in the middle of my run for U.S. Congress was unfortunate, and I still have bouts with migraines and memory loss.

My criminal so far has gotten away with it for lack of evidence. Your guy is in jail along with the other people who either thought they were above the law or were waiting to be caught — right where they should be.

— Brent Roske, executive producer and host of Roske on Politics, Des Moines