Michael R. Keihn flanked by two images of his alleged Kreepy the Clown character. (Screengrab via South Ridge Films/YouTube; Delaware County Sheriff’s Office; Screengrab via SkyeConic Wrestling/YouTube)
An professional wrestler was arrested this week for fighting an autistic man in a parking lot earlier this summer, police say.
Michael R. Keihn, 42, hails from Muncie, Indiana. He wrestles professionally as “Kreepy the Clown” and wears a grotesque-style ensemble featuring heavy white face makeup, a red nose, and stalks of red hair jutting out from either side of his head – with additional face markings and faux-blood spattered outfits that appear to draw on the evil clown archetype.
Keihn was arrested on Tuesday and booked into the Delaware County Jail on one count of battery of an endangered adult.
The underlying incident occurred on the night of Aug. 12 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, according to court documents in Keihn’s case obtained by Indianapolis-based Fox affiliate WXIN.
Law enforcement officials say the altercation began when a group of people complained about the alleged victim being “loud and boisterous” and causing “some persons in the area next to him to get angry.”
Law enforcement said some back-and-forth name-calling ensued.
The autistic man was leaving an Indiana Powerhouse Wrestling show at the fairgrounds when the fracas occurred, according to those court documents. Keihn was allegedly leaving as well and elbowed the autistic man in the back of the head, according to police.
As the wrestler allegedly struck the autistic man, he allegedly yelled: “You wanna call someone a b––––, call me a b––––!”
After the alleged elbow to the head, the autistic man allegedly responded by punching Keihn in the face with a can of Coca-Cola, the document says, citing a witness to the spiraling violence.
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Several witnesses were allegedly only able to identify the first man who got physical as “Kreepy the Clown,” implying that Keihn had yet to change into his civilian dress when the fight broke out.
Another witness reportedly went on to tell investigators that the man dressed as a clown was standing over the injured autistic man and screaming at him: “Don’t call my son a f–––––– r–––––!”
As that alleged triumphal shouting occurred, the witness said, they told the clown to stop. In turn, the clown allegedly told the witness: “Just leave.”
According to the court documents obtained by WXIN, the victim’s caregiver tried to intervene after things got physical but was himself repelled and held back by the crowd that had amassed to see the show of violence. As the professional wrestler and the autistic man allegedly went at one another, the autistic man’s caregiver said someone told him to “let them finish the fight.”
Once the fight was finished, the autistic man suffered a broken nose and several cuts on his face and forehead, police said.
According to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, Keihn declined being present at the parking lot melee during a conversation with a deputy on Sept. 1, WXIN reports.
Police claim, however, that a representative for Indiana Powerhouse Wrestling said Keihn was the man dressed as the clown and that the defendant was barred from working with the company any further due to the parking lot incident.
As of Oct. 11, Keihn is no longer being detained in the county jail.
Law&Crime reached out to various Delaware County authorities for comment and additional details on this story but no responses were immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
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