LANSING, Mich. — Neil Friske apparently lives up to his name: The Michigan state representative was arrested early Thursday after Lansing police responded to a report of gunshots — and allegedly found him chasing a stripper and firing a weapon.
Friske, a first-term Republican who represents the northern 107th House District and is facing an August primary challenge, remains jailed.
His arrest “stems from allegations that he sexually assaulted an exotic dancer and then chased her with a firearm, a source familiar with the allegations” told news service Gongwer Michigan.
Friske was cuffed around 2:45 a.m. Thursday on the 2000 block of Windbreak Lane, the street where public records show he owns a home, “for a felony-level offense,” the Detroit Free Press reported.
Police were first dispatched “to the nearby 2100 block of Forest Road to respond to reports of a male with a gun.”
The closest strip club to that Lansing address is Deja Vu Showgirls.
“We’re just saying no comment at this time,” the establishment told The Post.
If charges are authorized, Friske is expected to be arraigned Friday or Saturday, when more details of the arrest will be released.
Friske, who is single, is a fierce gun-rights proponent and a member of Michigan’s House Freedom Caucus.
“As many of us know, Rep Friske is always exercising his 2nd Amendment right,” his campaign said on Facebook after the arrest.
“It is highly suspect considering the timing of this situation:
• Right before absentee ballots are released.
• Day after an unknown phone number conducted polling on the 107 race between Rep. Friske and our opponent with deep-state ties.”
“We ask everyone for prayers and to stay tuned from updates directly from this campaign or Representative Friske himself,” it added.
“Clearly, Rep. Friske is over the target in this race.”
Forty minutes after his arrest, two posts appeared on Friske’s Twitter account on Michigan legislation that would ban using artificial intelligence to create porn deepfakes, which Friske voted against last week, The Detroit News noted.
“I’m not going to cave to the pressure of special interest. I’m not afraid of the false accusations, like ‘Friske is for AI Porn’ when a bill denies THE PEOPLE their rights to properly defend themselves,” read the 3:25 a.m tweet.
The House district is no stranger to scandal.
Former statehouse Speaker Lee Chatfield, a Republican who represented it from 2015 to 2021, had his own guns-and-strippers controversy.
