Okay? Like you're blowing up a balloon. That That ain't going to do it. Okay. Go ahead and take that for me. All right, sir. Turn around, place your hands behind your back. You're going to be under arrest for operating under the influence tonight. October 3rd, 2025, 7:10 p.m. A rural curved road in Springvale Township, Michigan, east of Petoskey. The kind of road where nobody's watching. Except someone was. A witness driving behind a black Cadillac CT6 watches it drift, clip a road sign, hit another sign, and come to a stop. They call 911. The driver of that Cadillac is still inside. He is about to tell the trooper who arrives that he has no idea what happened. That is the first of many things he will say tonight that are not true. His name is Thomas Ludington. He is a United States federal judge. Can you do me a favor and walk around to the back of your car, though? Okay. Okay. Just do me a favor. Turn Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Just turn around. Yep. Right here. Back your car. Yep. >> Back your car. Yes, sir. Step over to the back of your car. Yep. Okay. Step up. >> Put Put your butt against the back of your car. Put your butt right here. Okay. Okay. Perfect. What's your name? My name? >> Yeah. Tom. Tom, Tom, how much have you had to drink tonight? Uh nothing >> tonight. >> Nothing? No. Okay. Did you take anything? You on any medications? No. Okay. Well, you're in an accident here. You struck some signs. Your vehicle was called in. You have full airbag deployment, so that tells me you struck something, right? >> Yep. All right. So, there's something going on. Yep. All right. Do you have any head injuries, any history of head injuries? Uh no. >> No, never been unconscious? No. Okay, no concussions or anything? I'm actually a federal judge. Okay. Do you have any Do you have any history of diabetes? Are you on Are you on blood thinners at all? >> No. Okay. All right. Are you able to see my finger right here? Yeah. Okay. You don't wear contact lenses usually, you don't normally wear glasses? Right. Okay. Why don't you just go ahead and put your hands by your side? Take one step away from your vehicle for me. I'll wait from your vehicle for me. Yeah. Step toward me one step. Yep. Toward me one step. Okay, very good. All right, sir, you go ahead and put your feet together for me. Yep. Put your hands by your side. Okay. Do you see my finger? I want you to look at Look at my finger, okay? You're looking at me, I need you to look at my finger. Yeah. Okay? Yep. All right. I want you to follow my finger with your eyes without moving your head. Okay? You understand that? Yep. Okay. I need you to look at my finger, all right, and follow my finger. >> I understand. Okay. All right. I need you to follow me with my finger, okay? >> Yep. All right, you're not You're not tracking my finger. All right, you're looking at me. I want you to look at my finger for me, all right? Yep. Look at that. Can you see the thing? Okay. Track my finger with your eyes without moving your head. Yes, sir. All right, moving your head. I need you to move just your eyes. All right, not doing that at all. Okay, sir. What I want you to do is I want you to imagine a straight line running from the back of your car down the hill there, okay? Yep. And place your hands by your side for me. Keep them there for me. All right. >> And walk? No, no, sir. I want you to follow my instructions. Just I'll tell you when to begin. All right? I want you to imagine that straight line right there. Yeah. Okay. I want you to place your left foot on that line. I want you to place your right foot in front of your left foot with your heel touching your toe. Can you do that for me? I think so. No, sir. I want you to watch my Okay. All right, sir. I want you to just wait right here. Let's step up back up against your car. I want you to lean against your car for me. All right. Lean up against your car for me. I can't lean on my car. Um So, I want you to be honest with me. Tell me how much you had to drink today. Seriously, I don't think I had anything. You don't He doesn't know how the crash happened. He doesn't know why the airbags deployed. He says he's been driving for 2 hours from Bay City heading to his vacation home. His $2.7 million lakefront property is a few miles from where he's standing right now. He almost made it. All right. Do you have any history of driving drunk at all? You've been arrested before? Nope. Nope. Okay, sir. Uh I've dealt with a lot of deals that have Yeah, I understand that. All right. So, what I'm going to do is ask you to take a preliminary breath test for me. Yep. >> Okay. So, as a police peace officer, you I'm sure you understand the state of Michigan, you're required to submit to a preliminary breath test. Do you have any questions about that? Nope. Okay. Okay. What I want you to do is take a deep breath from the bottom of your lungs, blow long and steady until I tell you to stop. Yep. Okay, can you open your mouth for me? I think you're right. Yeah, can you open your mouth for me? You got gum in your mouth, don't you? Okay, go ahead and pitch that for me. >> [snorts] >> Okay. I'm going to have to wait just a moment before we do the next one since you had that gum in your mouth. >> Yep, I understand. Okay. Do you have a wallet in the vehicle or is it on your person? Uh in the vehicle. In vehicle? Would you mind telling my partner here where it is? Where your wallet is? I just want your driver's license. >> Yeah. Okay, is that okay? Yeah. What Do you want to get it instead? No, what I can't understand is what happened here. Well, I'll show you real quick. Yeah. Get you Go ahead and get your wallet for me. Do you have any weapons or anything in the car? Oh, yeah. I got a lot of weapons in it. Do you have anything Okay. Thank you. All right. See, sir, right over here? Yeah. You see the damage to the side of your vehicle? Yeah. Okay. Was this here when you started your drive up from Bay City? It was not. No. Okay. And we had a report that your vehicle struck some signs on the road about a mile back that way. The trooper shows him the damage to the right side of his own car. The passenger side is caved in. Airbags dangling from the dashboard like deflated balloons. Deep gouges in the body panel. This is what hitting two road signs at speed looks like. Ludington looks at it. And he tells the trooper he has no memory of hitting anything. That car belongs to his wife. She doesn't know yet. When this deployed I don't I have no memory of that. Okay. All right. No memory of it at all. Do you What is the last thing you do remember? Uh I mean, I've I've been driving up from Bay City uh to get to the cottage. That's it. I I don't know anything about this. Look at that. That right there. Both hands up, palms out. Like he's never seen a car in his life. A federal judge, a man who has pointed his finger at defendants from the bench for 20 years and said, "You knew what you were doing." is standing on the side of a Michigan road in the dark, shrugging because he can't explain why his car is destroyed. The irony does not appear to register. Sir, I was going to step back to the back of the vehicle again for me. Yep. Go ahead and step back over here for me. Yes, sir. So, you don't take any medications at all? None. None? No. You haven't taken anything today? No. Okay. All right. Can you pick a number between 19 and 21 for me? I beg your pardon? Can you pick a number between 19 and 21? Yeah, it's not hard, but I mean, why? What would be Just a a question I'm trying to assess assess 15. Okay. So, I asked you to pick a number between 19 and 21 and you picked 15? Yep. Okay. All right. You're a federal judge, I assume you have advanced levels of education. Yeah, I think so. Okay, sir. So, you know your ABCs, right? I do. Okay. What I want you to do is I want you to recite your ABCs for me without singing, beginning with C and ending with Q. Hm. You can begin when you're ready. A B C D E F U R I E U Q A T S E I O C Q A B C D F U That is a federal judge telling a Michigan State Trooper to go to hell in the middle of a sobriety test while failing it while being recorded on body cam while his crashed car sits 20 ft behind him. A former judge working with a a gentleman by the name of Chuck. I don't know him. Do you know him? I don't know that name. No, please. All right, sir. I want you to take a deep breath from the bottom of your lungs. Blow long and steady till I tell you to stop. Yep. Blow hard for me. Okay, we got to stop. All right. Deep breath from the bottom of your lungs. Blow long and steady, okay? Like you're blowing up a balloon. That That ain't going to do it. All right. You got to take a deep breath. Blow hard, like you're blowing up a balloon, Yeah. okay? Yeah. Take that deep breath. Blow long and steady till I tell you to stop. You're sucking on it now. Are we taking a preliminary? You're sucking on it now. I need you to blow. I can feel when you're blowing, all right? Yeah. So, take a deep breath Yep. from the bottom of your lungs. Like that. Blow long and steady till I tell you to stop. Take your deep breath. Take a deep breath. Blow. Blow hard. Harder. Harder. Harder. Okay? We're going to try something else here. All right. Want you to try that again. Take a deep breath. What what what what are we doing here? We're taking a preliminary breath test, but you're not following my instructions. Why not? Cuz you're not blowing. The trooper produces a preliminary breath test device. Standard procedure. Blow into the tube. Hold it for a few seconds. It takes 10 seconds. Simple. Multiple attempts. The trooper tries again. And again. According to the arrest report, Ludington was unable to follow the instructions despite repeated attempts. This is a man who explains federal law to lawyers for a living. He cannot operate a breath tube. Yep. My experience has been that people have a tendency to roll up or they roll down. Okay. And you're always trying to figure out where they are in that process. All right. All I want you to do is blow through the straw. Right. Okay? If you don't blow through the straw, I'm going to take that as a Sure. Okay? I get it. >> So, will you blow for me? Yeah. I I have. Three times. Nope, didn't blow, right? Yes, I did. >> can sense when you blow, okay? I beg your pardon? The machine can sense when you blow. All right, so if you don't blow again, I'm going to take that as a refusal. Right? We've done it three times. >> haven't done it. Why? >> Okay? Because you haven't blown through the tube like I've directed you to. Okay? So, are you going to blow? Well, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Okay. Go ahead and take that for me. All right, sir, turn around, place your hands behind your back. You're going to be under arrest for operating under the influence tonight. Want you to interlace your fingers for me, turn your palms together. 41 11 on 10th Street in Scottsdale. So, what the hell are you doing? I'm arresting you for driving operating under the influence tonight. Well, well, You are very clearly intoxicated. I got the odor of alcohol coming from you even though you say that you haven't had anything to drink today. You were involved in a motor vehicle accident, you're unable to follow simple instructions or take any of the tests that I'm offering you here. So, I'm going to go ahead and put you in my vehicle. October 3rd, 2025. The arrest happens. October 4th, he goes home. October 5th, he is back on the federal bench hearing cases, signing orders, sentencing people. Nobody tells the public. Nobody tells his colleagues on the court. The arrest is not disclosed. For 4 months, a federal judge with an active criminal case continues to exercise the full power of the United States federal judiciary. In November, 1 month after the crash, he sentences three businessmen to federal prison. He is their judge. He decides their fate. He holds their freedom in his hands. And he has a pending DUI charge that nobody in that courtroom knows about. The cover-up breaks in January 2026 when the Detroit News publishes the story. Four months after the arrest. Four months of cases heard, rulings issued, defendants sentenced. A federal judge with a 0.27 BAC arrest on his record running a federal courtroom. That's not a justice system failing. That's a justice system working exactly the way it was designed to. I'm Grave File TV. These cases don't close.