Jason Kolkema, a judicial candidate, appeared to severely belt his girlfriend during an altercation in his western Michigan apartment two weeks after winning the August primary. He was ostensibly unaware that adjacent witnesses were filming the action.

The 51-year-old lawyer gave the peace sign to the onlookers when he saw them out of his window and afterward claimed that the footage isn’t accurate: The woman and his attorney have insisted that he wasn’t actually hitting her with his belt; instead, he was striking a chair.

Kolkema and his girlfriend can be seen in the video waiving and giving the thumbs up after the belt moves, indicating that everything is well, the man claimed.

But the video sparked criminal accusations and a wave of public fury in the city of Muskegon, located about 40 miles northwest of Grand Rapids and borders Lake Michigan.

The issue of domestic violence has taken center stage in a scandalous judicial election that has sparked much discussion in western Michigan as women’s rights activists fight to keep Kolkema off the bench, arguing he isn’t qualified to be a judge, particularly in cases involving battered women and vulnerable children.

According to the defense attorney for a Muskegon County judge candidate, the video shows Jason Kolkema hitting some furniture adjacent to his girlfriend rather than assaulting her with a belt.

According to Terry Nolan, Kolkema’s lawyer, Target 8 was informed that the two were having an argument when Kolkema struck the woman’s chair with his belt. Kolkema and the girlfriend, according to him, claim no communication was made.

Officers could not observe any injuries on Kolkema’s girlfriend due to her wearing a long dress, according to the probable cause affidavit that backed Kolkema’s arrest on a domestic violence charge.