*Updated* Mulletted UFC Meme Harold Howard Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
“Hill said Howard had been staying at his sister’s home on Muir Ave. His nephew was getting milk out of the refrigerator when Howard suddenly attacked him with a hammer, striking him five or six times with the claw end of the weapon. The nephew required 21 stitches to close the gash on his head and six stitches to close a wound on his hand.
Howard’s sister entered the room after her son screamed and she was struck with the hammer and fell to the ground. She suffered a broken finger, a gash to the right eye and cuts. She required four stitches.
The nephew struck Howard with a chair, which ended the attack. Howard then drove to a house on Carmen St., where his estranged spouse and son lived, and struck her vehicle that was parked in the driveway, causing about $3,000 damage. He then approached the front door and tried to gain entry and yelled: ‘You ruined my life.’
Police were called and located Howard driving his pickup truck, but he failed to stop. A pursuit followed reaching speeds of 110 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
When Howard approached Niagara Fallsview Casino and Resort, he crashed his pickup truck through the glass front doors and it glanced off the fountain in the lobby, coming to rest against a pole.”
Never one to make excuses for himself or to let anyone else fight his battles, the 52-year-old karate and Japanese jiu-jitsu black belt and instructor, who has spent the better part of the past two decades teaching the next generation of UFC hopefuls how to “Come on!” at his Niagara Falls martial arts studio, represented himself in court Friday. Howard pled guilty to six charges (aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, dangerous driving, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, mischief and breach of a court order) which was a vast reduction from the original tally of 25 that included two charges of attempted murder.
Howard Addresses the Court
Addressing the court one last time before sentencing, Howard made a couple interesting requests, including one for the hammer that started the whole ball rolling:
“After assuring the court that “these actions are not [his] normal behaviour,” Howard asked if his sentence could be served in a facility out west, explaining that he had no future in the Niagara region. He also wanted to know if someone could retrieve some belongings and tools from his former residences.”
In my mind, that’s not how I saw his speech going down at all. I pictured Howard snapping his head to face the judge, while tearing off his wraparound shades and muttering one of his prophetic post-fight gems, like: “Well, I told you, if it worked, it worked and it didn’t, I didn’t. “So in the end, it didn’t,” before getting into his karate stance and going out in a blaze of glory.