A fight outside a packed Woodward Avenue bar during last Saturday's Woodward Dream Cruise sent officers on horseback and motorcycles into the crowd, and by the time it was over, police had eight men in custody. Five of them remained in custody as of today.
Officers were called to Duggan's Irish Pub on Woodward Avenue just north of 13 Mile Road shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday, according to officials cited by The Oakland Press. Police have not released other details about what triggered the fight, but investigators are reviewing a significant amount of video footage, including police body camera recordings and videos posted on social media, per the same report.
Royal Oak Police Lt. Rich Millard said the brawl did not result in significant injuries. He said charges are expected once the investigation wraps up and a report is handed to the city attorney's office or the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, the newspaper reported.
A Landmark Spectator Spot Turns Chaotic
Duggan's Irish Pub, a double-decker open-air bar at 31501 Woodward Avenue, has long been one of the most sought-after viewing spots along the cruise route, having replaced the historic Totem Pole drive-in decades ago, according to the Plymouth District Library. Its location near 13 Mile Road makes the outdoor seating a magnet for crowds trying to catch a glimpse of passing classic cars, which likely explains why it became the epicenter of Saturday's disturbance. Next door, the vacant lot that once held Pasquale's Restaurant served as official event parking and food truck space during this year's cruise, a detail Hoodline reported in its coverage of the stalled Big Boy project.
Footage of the response, according to FOX 2 Detroit, showed officers on both motorcycle and horseback moving through the scene to bring the situation under control — specialized units that are routinely deployed along Woodward for crowd management during the cruise but rarely need to be used for a fight of this scale. The station also reported that the Oakland County Sheriff's Office made four separate arrests elsewhere along the route Saturday, on charges including driving with a suspended license, narcotics possession, an outstanding child support warrant, and open intoxicants inside a vehicle.
What Charges Could Look Like
Michigan law gives prosecutors a couple of paths once Royal Oak's investigation is complete. Simple assault or assault and battery under Michigan Compiled Laws § 750.81 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500, according to the Michigan Legislature. Alternatively, public brawling and disturbing the peace can be charged as disorderly conduct under MCL § 750.167, which carries up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine, or handled through a local ordinance such as Royal Oak Code § 278.35, according to a summary from a Michigan criminal defense firm. It remains unresolved which route prosecutors will take, whether the city will review any bar permits or code issues tied to Duggan's, and what the video review ultimately shows about how the fight started.
A Massive Event With a Small, Rare Disruption
The brawl is a rare blemish on an event that draws roughly 1 million spectators and 40,000 classic cars across a 16-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue spanning nine Oakland County communities every August, according to U.S. Census Bureau event data. What began in August 1995 as a fundraiser organized by volunteer Nelson House to build a Ferndale soccer field, expecting just 25,000 visitors, instead drew nearly 250,000 people in its first year and has run every third Saturday of August since. Hoodline detailed the scale of this year's 40,000-car cruise preview ahead of the weekend.
City budget records show the cruise now generates more than $56 million annually for the Metro Detroit economy and requires monthly interdisciplinary planning among police, fire, and public service departments across participating municipalities, per the City of Royal Oak. That planning included a July policy move along the Woodward corridor, when local police launched targeted summer patrols enforcing vehicle noise standards while carving out an exemption for classic cars during cruise weekend itself, as Hoodline reported in its piece on Woodward's noise enforcement push. Against that backdrop of heavy coordination, Saturday's brawl at Duggan's stands out as the kind of localized incident authorities are still working to explain.
