Hockey player violently arrested by Canadian police issues public statement.

We have a follow up to the story that captured so much of your attention over this weekend, the violent arrest of a young Canadian man seemingly for his participation in an outdoor hockey game. 

On Saturday a pair of videos began to make the rounds on social media, videos that depicted the rather violent arrest of a Canadian man who appeared to be participating in an outdoor hockey game. According to the man's friends who filmed the confrontation with police, the man had asked officers to clarify which section of the health code their game had violated prior to leaving the ice. Those same witnesses claim the officers refused to give an answer and, as the video shows, the officers eventually escalated the verbal confrontation into a physical one.

As you can see in the videos we will share below the officers repeatedly brandish their tasers during the incident, an escalation of violence that has led many Canadians and hockey fans around the world to describe this incident as an assault. 

Update: One of the videos has been removed by the publisher.

Although witnesses to the incident have shared their version of events, events that the Calgary police have disputed claiming that their officers acted appropriately, we had yet to hear from the man in the video himself. Well on Sunday the man, who has now identified himself as 21 year old Ocean Wiesblatt, published a statement on social media.

Here it is unedited and in full:

Hey my name is Ocean Wiesblatt. Please don’t donate to anything that is under my name because I have not created or set up anything. I will be posting a video tomorrow or the day after to explain the info with everything that has happened since my arrest on thursday at the out door rink. For all the people that are supporting me thank you but we are not done, this is only the start. I’m doing this for my freedom and yours. The mask on your face that is enforced by government should be your choice to wear or not to wear not anyone else’s choice because it’s your life, body and health. If you’re scared to get sick protect yourself. I will keep pushing till this problem is solved. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.

Interestingly enough Wiesblatt has a pretty strong connection to the hockey world with his brother being drafted into the NHL in 2020. The San Jose Sharks drafted Ozzy Wiesblatt, Ocean's brother, with the 31st overall pick at this year's draft. That may help his story draw more eyeballs and could impact how this story unfolds moving forward.