Two Democratic lawmakers in Missouri got into a fistfight in an alley last week.
The fight led Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis, a Democratic member of the Missouri House, to obtain a restraining order against his alleged assailant, Rep. Michael Butler, another Democrat, the Associated Press reported.
Curtis, who released a copy of the order Tuesday and also filed a House ethics complaint, said that Butler attacked him during a union event last week.
According to Curtis, Butler confronted him at an AFL-CIO event on January 19 because he voted for right-to-work legislation last year that would have put limits on union powers. When Curtis left the event, Butler allegedly punched him in an alley, leading him to strike back.
Curtis said he was cut and bruised on his head as a result of the fight.
"Our political stances shouldn’t ever result to having violent actions taken against us," Curtis said of the incident.
Last September, Curtis voted with Republican colleagues to make Missouri a right-to-work state, though the bill was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.
