By Gregory Pratt
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — The Chicago-Green Bay rivalry intensified for one couple after a Chicago-area Bears fan won a bet with his Packers fan wife at a bar in Wisconsin, police said.
John M. Grant, 42, of the suburb of Tinley Park, Ill., and his wife watched the Bears beat the Packers Monday night at Sidelines Tap in Mayville, Wis., according to police.
Grant told police he and his wife made a bet that he could use a Taser on her if the Bears won.
The two were in the alley smoking a cigarette at one point when Grant used the Taser “two times on her buttocks,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Dodge County, Wis.
Grant’s wife then called police.
“Hell yeah it hurt,” she said, according to police.
Grant was charged with felony possession of an electronic weapon.
“It takes not only the Packer and Bear rivalry to a new level, it takes the spousal rivalry (to a new level),” said Mayville Police Chief Christopher MacNeill. “There are couples where the wife is a fan of one team and the husband’s a fan of another team, but this raises the bar a little bit and goes to the extreme.”
Grant’s wife told police she had not given consent for anyone to use a Taser, but police checked a video on her cell phone and saw the Taser used on her in the alley, where she is seen “laughing and it seemed apparent that Ms. Grant had consented,” the arresting officer wrote in the complaint.
“As a police officer, you always expect there to be some kind of disturbances when rival teams are playing,” Chief MacNeill said, especially when it’s the Bears and Packers. “But with something like this, it was completely unexpected and I think a lot of people were in disbelief this actually took place.”
Christopher Neu, who owns Sidelines, said he didn’t think the incident was malicious.
“They had a running bet that the loser would get Tasered by the winner,” Neu said. “Obviously she lost. “
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