A man wanted for a brutal downtown beating is locked up in a Las Vegas jail as his victim improves at a local hospital. Michael K. Taylor, also known as "Madness", was arrested Saturday.
Local 12's Joe Webb has been following the story and shares new information in the case.
Michael "Madness" Taylor is the prime suspect in the beating of Robert Meehan, a homeless man he encountered on Walnut Street. Homeless advocates are applauding the arrest and are anxious for Taylor to be brought back here and tried for felonious assault. They're also applauding police for staying on top of the case. Michael "Madness" Taylor didn't have a fun weekend in Vegas.
According to the Las Vegas Metro Police report, an anonymous source pointed them to an apartment where he was staying. After knocking on the door, they say Taylor jumped out a second story window to escape, but eventually surrendered peacefully.
Cincinnati Police say Taylor beat Robert Meehan on a Walnut Street sidewalk two weeks ago. Meehan is homeless. They only had grainy surveillance video to build a case, but did. The arrest was celebrated by homeless advocates.
Josh Spring, GCCH: "We're really thankful the police took this extremely seriously. They turned around this case in less than 2 weeks and caught a man on the other side of the country."
Meehan was injured so severely he was kept in a medically-induced coma. Unlike Taylor, he had a pretty good weekend.
"Over the weekend, Robert was able to be moved down from ICU, so he's in more stable condition. He's doing better. I will be visiting him later this afternoon. It seems at this point he's coherent enough to know where he is."
By all accounts, Meehan's attack was unprovoked. Witnesses were initially hesitant to talk, but eventually came forward. Spring hopes Meehan's case changes attitudes.
"It's really a consequence of forgetting about people and saying this person is not human. It becomes easier to commit these crimes."
"We want the city to come out in support of Robert, and come out in support of other victims, and really stand up and say we're not going to tolerate this."
Taylor was also arrested in Las Vegas on an old warrant for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. His first court appearance will be tomorrow morning at 7:45 Las Vegas time. That's the first step in extraditing him back to Ohio.
Las Vegas Police picked up Taylor after Cincinnati issued a national extradition warrant. When he returns to Cincinnati, he will face a felonious assault charge. Michael Taylor also used the names Michael Maupin and George H. Reed.
