FERGUSON

MARQUETTE — The Democratic nominee for Michigan’s 1st District in Congress has put out a statement regarding a 2011 arrest on domestic violence charges.

Dana Ferguson and his ex-wife Rebecca Kraemer issued a joint statement confirming a nine-year-old report from the Negaunee Police Department published by right-wing blog West Michigan Politics.

The report details an incident between Ferguson and Kraemer, who were married at the time, that resulted in his arrest.

The charges were later dropped.

Kraemer said the events of that evening have been “blown out of proportion.”

“Never could I imagine one of the worst days of our lives nine years ago would be made so public,” Kraemer said in a statement. “Dana is a person of outstanding character and during this time — as stated in the police report — we were both going through a vulnerable time in our marriage. It was a mistake for me to have involved the police. We all make mistakes and choices we regret and if I could go back in time I would have done everything differently.”

Ferguson called the incident “an extremely unfortunate, dramatic, escalated evening between two people struggling with the hardships of young parenthood, depression and financial difficulties.”

“Sadly this is something I think so many working families can relate to. Domestic abuse is very serious,” Ferguson said. “Both my ex and I agree, that’s not what this was. There were no charges. Everything was dropped.”

Ferguson is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, in November.