Racist attack at hotel pool nets prison term, bodycam video

Editor’s note: This article includes a description of a racist attack, including references to slurs.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Three years after a racial attack at a Kentwood hotel, the man behind it has begun serving time in a Michigan prison.

A Kent County judge in late July sentenced Joel Peter Venema of Allendale to at least two years in prison and a maximum of 10.

Venema pleaded guilty in April to ethnic intimidation, assault with intent to do great bodily less than murder or by strangulation and assaulting, resisting or obstructing police.

The attack happened in August 2021 at Staybridge Suites in Kentwood, but Venema’s guilty plea and sentencing were delayed due to appeals.

“The justice system works for us,” said Jackie Beard, the victim in the assault. “It might take a while, but, hey, it got done.”

On the evening of Aug. 7, 2021, Beard had just gotten off work and was enjoying the pool at Staybridge Suites with his family.

“Then all of the sudden, this guy comes in with a lot of kids,” recalled Beard, speaking to Target 8 recently. “We’re sitting in the hot tub, and I was like, ‘Please don’t come over here.’ They came over here. Then he got to body slamming one of the kids, and, you know, a hot tub is very shallow. So, I was like, ‘Can you please stop that and take that away from me and my family?’”

That’s when Venema unleashed a racist rant, according to Beard and several pool guests who witnessed the assault.

VICTIM: HE SAID ‘YOU NEED TO BE HUNG’

“He said, ‘(Expletive) you, N-word. I’ll (expletive) you up. I’ll beat your (expletive). You need to be hung,’” relayed Beard, adding that he tried repeatedly to de-escalate the situation by walking away.

“We got up and walked toward the gate,” explained Beard, “and all of a sudden, he’s like, ‘I’m gonna kill you, you N-word,’ and he jumps on my neck and starts strangling. I shook him off … and he jumped on my neck again and started saying, ‘I’m gonna kill you. I’m the baddest (expletive) out here. You’re gonna die tonight, you N-word.’”

A witness’ account of the assault was captured on police body camera footage, recently obtained by Target 8.

“He attacked him for no reason,” the hotel guest told a Kentwood officer. “He got him by the throat, and (Beard) said, ‘Get off me.’ (Venema) said ‘N-word, N-word, N-word. I’m not gonna get off you.’ …  I said, ‘Stop it. You’re gonna kill him. Let go of his neck. You’re gonna kill him.’ He just wouldn’t let go.’”

Later, handcuffed and seated in the back of a Kentwood police cruiser, Venema continued spewing racist venom.

“You know what N-words (do),” Venema told the officer from the back seat. “You know exactly what they do. They assault white people, and they get away with it. You know what I mean?”

When the officer said he did not know he meant, Venema mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement.

“You’re not part of the defund the police (movement)?” Venema asked incredulously. “Give me a break, dude. Seriously? You’re part of that whole movement? (Expletive), dude. You’re a piece of (expletive).”

‘DUTCH LIVES MATTER TOO’

Venema has shared his perspective publicly before.

A protestor reportedly snapped a picture of Venema at a BLM rally wearing a t-shirt with “Dutch Lives Matter Too” scrawled across the front in marker.

Venema’s criminal history includes three assault arrests and two alcohol-related driving offenses, according to the Michigan State Police criminal history database.

Venema’s attorney, Frank Stanley, told Target 8 that his client has accepted responsibility for his actions at the hotel pool, acknowledged it and apologized to the victim’s family as well as his own.

Stanley said the incident was fueled by alcohol.

Kentwood police gave Venema a preliminary breath test on the scene, and his blood alcohol level registered at .27.

“This is alcohol,” Stanley said, referring to Venema’s actions. “He was drinking excessively, and if you look at the (bodycam) video, it’s an indicator. He’s being arrested by white police officers, and he’s using racial slurs against them. In my opinion, almost beyond a reasonable doubt, this proves race had nothing to do with it. He was extremely intoxicated, and people say stupid things when intoxicated.”

Stanley said Venema was embarrassed by the incident.

“He recognized this was not appropriate behavior,” said Stanley. “When he’s not drinking, he’s a very productive, hardworking individual.”

Stanley pointed out that Venema remained free on bond “for a very long time” and never violated the no-alcohol condition.

When Target 8 reached Beard three years after the assault, he said he was happy with the sentence.

“The judge could have given him a little more, but she gave him some time, and that was a good thing. It’s a start to teach other people that you just can’t walk up and put your hands on anybody. I don’t care what color you are, what race you are. You can’t do it.”

VICTIM: ‘TAKE THE HIGHER GROUND’

Beard urged people to change their approach.

“Don’t throw gasoline on a fire that’s already lit,” advised Beard. “De-escalate. We want to de-escalate, not escalate. That’s what I tried to do, and that’s what I did.”

Beard, a former professional boxer who was well-known and well-decorated, had no interest in fighting Venema.

“Take the higher ground,” said Beard. “I’m a bigger man. Something small to a giant. Gotta get past the little stuff.”

Beard said he refuses to let racist taunts get to him.

“Blow it off,” Beard said of his response to slurs. “They want it to bother me. They want me to erupt. They want to see that hawk in me. They’ll never see that. I’ll never give them a pleasure. They won’t get me with that word.”

He hopes the 2021 assault breeds unity in the end.

“We all bleed the same blood,” said Beard. “We’re all the same people. I don’t know why there’s so much hate.”

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