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According to the death certificate, Joshua Conant was murdered

The death of a 26-year-old man outside a Port Huron bar in November was ruled a homicide by the county coroner.

A copy of the death certificate obtained by the Times Herald revealed the cause of Joshua Conant's death, stating that the murder occurred by “cardiac arrest as a result of physical subjugation with restraint in a prone position.”

Conant died at approximately 2:15 a.m. on November 4 after several bouncers at the Roche Bar were observed rushing at him, apparently in an attempt to restrain him.

An employee at the bar called 911, and a Port Huron Police Department officer arrived and handcuffed Conant. She then found Conant unresponsive. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was later pronounced dead.

Conant's death sparked an uproar in Port Huron and the Blue Water area. Several witnesses compared it to the 2020 murder of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck while restraining him. Conant's family has organized rallies and fundraisers in his support. The slogan #JusticeforJosh has been used at protests, on bumper stickers and on billboards. The Roche Bar has remained closed since the incident.

More: Port Huron police can find no fault in their officers' response to the death of Joshua Conant

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The Port Huron Police Department conducted an internal review of its officers' conduct and concluded in December that its officers – including the one who handcuffed Conant – acted correctly based on the information available to them.

The death certificate, provided to the Times Herald by Conant's family, was signed by Dr. Daniel Spitz, the St. Clair County coroner, on Nov. 6. No charges have been filed in the more than nine months since Conant's death.

The Michigan State Police completed the investigation into Conant's death in February and turned over its findings to the Michigan Attorney General's Office. The St. Clair County Attorney's Office had withdrawn from the case after St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling said he knew both Conant and one of the owners of the Roche Bar.

The Times Herald has reached out to the Michigan Attorney General's Office several times since the investigation was concluded. Danny Wimmer, press secretary for the attorney general's office, said the case is still being reviewed to determine who, if anyone, should be charged and against whom.

“Why is this taking so long? What else do they need?” asked Mark Sanderson, Conant's uncle, who spoke to the Times Herald on behalf of the family. “In some ways, the wait feels worse than if they had just said no.”

Contact Johnathan Hogan at [email protected].

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