Port Huron ordinance voted unanimously to honor Joshua Conant
New Port Huron ordinance honors Joshua Contant
It has been two years since a young man died while detained by bouncers at a Port Huron bar. Now on Monday, his family remains on a mission to hold security personnel accountable.
PORT HURON, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two years have passed since a man died while detained by bouncers at a Port Huron bar. Now, Joshua Conant’s family says they are still fighting to hold security personnel accountable.
What they're saying:
They say he was held for six minutes by bouncers and died outside of the bar in 2023. They believe all of this could have been prevented with better training for the bouncers.
The Port Huron City Council voted on a city ordinance in honor of the 26-year-old to better train security personnel, especially at bars.
FOX 2 has been covering Conant’s death since 2023. He intervened in a fight at the Roche Bar in Port Huron where bouncers zeroed in on Josh.
"The next thing you know, a couple minutes later, they’re on Josh. They held Josh to the ground from the MSP report for over 6 minutes on top of him," said his uncle, Mark Sanderson. He died on the scene.
Big picture view:
The case, specifically the bouncers' actions that night, was escalated to the Attorney General’s office for review, but ultimately, no criminal charges were filed.
Conant’s mother, Sandy Schultz, and the rest of the family are reportedly disheartened that no criminal charges were filed. They are now taking on a new battle in his honor, establishing training standards for security guards and bouncers, and requiring background checks to be done.
What's next:
The council, along with the mayor of Port Huron, unanimously voted, and now part of the training for security personnel will include de-escalation training and learning safe restraint techniques along with CPR.
As a reminder, the ordinance that goes into effect is specific to Port Huron.