Milwaukee mayor leaves hospital after beating

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett went home from the hospital on Monday after a man shattered his hand and knocked two of his front teeth out as the mayor tried to defend a grandmother who was screaming for someone to call 911.

His office said Barrett was at home resting comfortably and looked forward to returning to work.

The 55-year-old mayor has been lauded by family, friends and even President Barack Obama for trying to help the woman and her 1-year-old granddaughter in a parking lot near the Wisconsin State Fair on Saturday night.

The president called the Democratic mayor Monday when he was still in the hospital and commended him for his bravery, according to a statement from the White House.

Obama told Barrett he “went above the call of duty and let him know he was proud of his selfless act of courage,” the statement said.

The mayor went to the fair outside Milwaukee on Saturday night with his sister, his 10- and 12-year-old daughters and a niece. As the group left and walked to the sister’s car, they heard a woman screaming for someone to call 911, police said.

Police said the woman was a grandmother who was trying to protect her 1-year-old granddaughter from a 20-year-old man, an assault authorities characterized as a domestic dispute.

Barrett’s brother, John Barrett, said the mayor tried to calm the man down, and when he went to call 911, the man knocked the phone out of his hands and stomped on it. At one point, the suspect said he had a gun and he’s “not afraid to use it,” John Barrett said.

Tom Barrett’s daughters started crying, and the mayor ordered his sister to take the kids away. The suspect told them to stay. The sister took Barrett’s daughters away, but a niece stayed behind, the brother said.

The man then punched Barrett in the stomach and he doubled over, John Barrett said. The suspect then told Barrett to lay on the ground face down, but the mayor became frightened and fought back, the brother said. While either defending himself or hitting the man, the mayor shattered his hand — so much so that bones were sticking out, according to the brother.

The man then took both of the mayor’s arms and threw him to the ground, the brother said. John Barrett said the suspect used an expandable metal baton in the attack, though police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz has said it was a metal pipe.

Tom Barrett, who had two of his front teeth knocked out, underwent a three-hour surgery on his hand and had plastic surgery for a significant gash on his face, the brother said. He also received staples to the back of his head.

The man was arrested Sunday at a Milwaukee home, authorities said. The grandmother and the baby were uninjured.

Police have said authorities had no reason to believe the suspect knew it was the mayor he was attacking. The man was intoxicated at the time and had wanted to see his daughter, police said.

A woman who answered the door Monday at the grandmother’s home outside of Milwaukee declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Police kept the media away from the mayor’s home Monday evening as neighbors were seen bringing food to his house.

Earlier Monday, John Barrett said the family was proud of his brother.

“I think he was able to prevent further harm to the grandmother and child,” he said.

Others have commended the mayor, including Gov. Jim Doyle. John Barrett said when the governor visited the mayor on Sunday, he joked that the mayor had bumped him off the front page.

Doyle formally announced Monday that he would not see a third-term, and Barrett’s name has been circulating as a possible Democratic candidate for governor in 2010.

Barrett was elected Milwaukee mayor in 2004 and re-elected last year with nearly 80 percent of the vote. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1992 to 2002.