Senator sucker-punched from Mackinac Island carriage

U.S. State Senator Mike Bishop hails from Rochester, Michigan, little more than a stone's throw north of Detroit.

But until Saturday, the 36-year-old Republican politician had never been the victim of a violent crime.

Yesterday, Bishop managed to get his face re-arranged when he paid a visit to, of all places, quaint, romantic, friendly Mackinac Island.

Bishop was on the island as one of 1,600 delegates to the Detroit Regional Chamber's leadership conference.

He'd left his room at the Grand Hotel for a little excursion to Horn's Bar and sometime around 2 a.m. was trying to flag a horse-drawn carriage back to the hotel.

The Senator said he wanted to board the carriage and had just looked inside when he was "sucker-punched."

"I never saw it coming," Bishop told the Detroit Free Press.

"All I know is this guy jumped off the carriage and started flailing away. I instinctively put up my hands and backed away and he tackled me."

Bishop, who has since left Mackinac Island, was treated for concussion, a possible broken nose, a chipped tooth, facial bruising and a seven-stitch cut over his right eye.

One man was arrested afterward and Michigan State Police are investigating further, media reports indicate.

The Soo Evening News quotes an island source as saying that the assailant was a non-resident, believed to be part of a visiting wedding entourage.