VIDEO: Joliet Cop Punched In Mouth During 'Stairway To Heaven'

JOLIET, IL —Joliet Police Department body camera footage obtained by Joliet Patch through the Freedom of Information Act shows the events surrounding the late January arrest at the Iron Works historical site of 21-year-old Valentin Bassham, a missing man from Missouri, who was discovered trespassing on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad property.

The events surrounding the out-of-state man's arrest are bizarre, the Joliet police video footage shows. That morning, several Joliet police officers found Bassham laying on his stomach, hiding in the backseat of his van, and he refused to open the door or step outside.

You can watch the entire video of the Joliet police arrest at the bottom of this story. This particular video is 13 minutes and 45 seconds. Bassham's violent attack upon the Joliet police officer takes place around the 6 minute, 30-second mark of this Joliet police video.

Eventually, as Led Zeppelin's classic rock-and-roll hit, "Stairway to Heaven," is blaring from his stereo, Bassham punched one of the Joliet police officers in the mouth and several other nearby police officers take Bassham to the ground and place him under arrest, the body camera footage showed.

In one of the body camera videos obtained by Joliet Patch, Bassham told the Joliet police that his name was "Slim Shady," when they asked his identity.

On Jan. 31, Patch reported that Valentin Bassham was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer, two counts of aggravated assault to a peace officer, resisting a peace officer, obstructing justice and trespassing on railroad property.

Over the next several days, Joliet Patch will be publishing a number of body camera videos obtained from the Joliet Police Department through FOIA. The videos help illustrate the day-to-day incidents and challenges that Joliet police officers often encounter during the course of their normal on-duty assignments.