Area hockey fans should be familiar with what was called "Fight Night at the Joe", where a legendary March 27, 1997 game between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche devolved into an epic brawl filled affair with 18 fighting major penalties with even the goalies squaring off against each other, solidifying the intense rivalry between the two premiere teams of the time.

The Ludington Police Department (LPD) had their own "Fight Night at the Joe" around 8 PM on February 29, 2024 on the ice (and snow) when they were told by the city manager to quiet down a citizen (who lived more than two miles away from his home) who was playing some loud music in their backyard.  That citizen, a business owner named Joe Oquist, had his own rivalry with a neighboring business that regularly blared amplified music throughout the neighborhood much louder than his; but they were friendly with the city manager and so never were harassed like Joe Oquist was over the years in a case where the law was obviously enforced unequally.  

Body cam video of the events that night was never given to Joe Oquist through discovery even though he had originally been charged with multiple counts of the felony of resisting arrest.  Those charges were only dropped after Oquist claimed he had security cam footage of the incident which showed that he never resisted arrest.  In fact, he was caught from behind, pulled down stairs, and thrown to the ground, and had a massive police captain throw his weight on his neck and upper shoulder, puncturing his lung, while the other manhandled his arms without asking the frail and peaceful 62-year-old whether he had any health problems that made such action difficult.

LPD Captain Mike Haveman puts his weight on Joe Oquist's neck and upper back while Officer Versluis handcuffs the non-resisting 62 year old business owner, puncturing his lung.

We have commented on this same incident before and have shown Oquist's security video of the incident.  We have also shown some of the history of the bad blood between Oquist and his neighboring business and their close allies in LPD, with this odd 2021 arrest.   All of that and the arrest report has been presented that all lend itself to one heck of a federal lawsuit should Joe Oquist want to pursue one.  

After quibbling with the Ludington FOIA Coordinator, the city council and with amazing delays in circuit court while the wife of a city official who got her job and worked for the city for several years is tasked with being the judge, we have finally, after a year of trying, received Versluis body cam footage of the incident that shows the viciousness of that night's encounter and the violence perpetrated on Joe Oquist by two police not following their own policies and definitely not the Constitution.  This was due to nothing that the conflicted judge ordered, but without further ado, here's the three minute video with an unofficial transcript that follows:

Officer Jared Versluis:  Mr Oquist... Mr. Oquist, come here.  (walking into Ouist's curtilage)

Joe Oquist:  Hey, what's up man. (walking towards back steps, speaker in hand)

JV:  Hey, come here.  (approaches closer as Joe ascends steps) "No, no, no, no" (grabs Joe's arm while he opens the door)

JO:  Hey, I'm putting this inside man. (as he's being drug down, JV grabs at the other arm).

JV:  Come here, you're under arrest.

JO:  For what?!

JV:  For disorderly conduct.

JO:  You've gotta give me a break, man.

JV:  Put your hands behind your back.

JO:  You've gotta give me a break man. (JV drives JO to the ground hard and face first)

JV:  No... put your hands behind your back. (Captain Mike Haveman rushes in puts knee on shoulders)   Alright, give me this other arm.

JO:  I was just taking it inside, man.

JV:  Got it.

JO:  You guys are doing this (unknown)

JV:  Okay

JO:  You are really, really messing up.

JV:  OK.  Roll over... get up.

JO:  Listen guys, I have shit going on, I have my oven on.  What the fuck am I going to do.

Mike Haveman:  Go to jail probably.

JO:  Why?  Just give me a ticket.

MH:  Well, we could have if you didn't want to fight.

JO:  I didn't fight.

MH:  Now we have to take your radio for evidence (unintelligible)

JO:  Are you joking with me?

MH:  Do you think we're joking?  

JO:  No, but why are you doing this, I was just listening to music, give me a ticket, I didn't really resist nothing.

MH:  Yeah, I watched it happen.  (JO placed in car)

JO:  What?  I was... you're nuts, you're liars.

MH:  We're nuts?

JO:  You're liars.  You're lying.  Are you proud of yourself.  Aren't you proud of yourself?

You may wonder why some of the footage is edited out when the camera is aimed more at the house and the exemption is claimed to be from the body cam privacy act.  We wondered that too, and took a picture of the house from a nearby alley right-of-way of the covered porch which makes no pretense of being visually open to all who pass by, like most uncovered porches are, you can even get the following from Google maps taken during late 2024: 

Such a place is not seen as a "private place" according to that law and so there was no reason to add the black squares.  This would launch a FOIA appeal for denial of the complete public record, leaving us with one scattered with unlawful redactions courtesy of the man who was seen in the video kneeling on Joe Oquist's neck like he was Officer Derek Chauvin and then joking with Joe about going to jail when Oquist raises the concern that his oven was on, and infer that his house might burn down if he was taken to jail for the illegal arrest and brutal assault that he was a victim of.  

Both the security and body cam videos show Versluis crossing the vacant lot beside Oquist's home and then entering his backyard through a line of vegetation defining the property line.  As you can see from another Google maps picture from the front of his house (shown above), Oquist has entrance to his backyard blocked by a gate, indicating that Versluis came through the curtilage of his property before grabbing him and throwing him down to the ground rather than act like a professional officer.  The curtilage of one's home has many of the protections of the Fourth Amendment.

This was indeed a professional hit on Joe Oquist from an oppressive city police department that sees no issue with treating him differently from the neighboring business to the north of him, and it should in time make him an awful lot of money in the federal courtroom thanks to the city's philosophy of escalation and thuggery in their police services.  We look forward to showing this video with its unlawful redactions at the next city council meeting in our appeal of their denial to let us have a look at Joe's front porch.  LPD's "Fight Night at the Joe", complete with the irony that Oquist was leapt on during 2024's Leap Day, has at least one more period to go, but it looks like he will have a power play with at least a two-man advantage to score a victory for the full twenty minutes.