Moment St. Louis cop crashes his speeding patrol car into Bar:PM
By Mackenzie Tatananni For Dailymail.Com[1]
Published: 07:03, 20 December 2023 | Updated: 09:26, 20 December 2023
A St. Louis police officer smashed his patrol car into a popular gay bar Monday morning, leading to the arrest of one of the establishment’s owners following an altercation with cops.
Chad Morris, 37, was arrested and charged with assault following an altercation outside Bar:PM, which he co-owns with his husband, James Pence.
The couple’s attorney, Javad Khazaeli, posted surveillance video of the crash to social media on Tuesday.
‘You all heard about the cop car that slammed into Bar PM Sunday night. And they arrested the owner for having the audacity to question him.
Well here’s the video,’ Khazaeli wrote in a tweet.
An accompanying clip showed a patrol car speeding down a dimly illuminated road, nearly clipping a parked vehicle before sharply swerving left and crashing into the bar.
A St.
Louis police officer smashed his patrol car into a popular gay bar Monday morning before one of the bar’s owners was arrested after an alleged altercation
Surveillance video shows the car speeding down the road, nearly hitting a parked vehicle before swerving left and crashing into the bar
The bar’s co-owners, Chad Morris (left) and James Pence (right), went outside after the crash.
Morris was arrested and charged with assault after he allegedly shoved an officer
Morris and Pence live in an apartment above Bar:PM. Pence told KSDK-TV[2] he was in bed when he heard ‘a loud boom’ around 12.30am.
‘I jumped up thinking it was an accident with a vehicle, and then, I saw it, and it was a St. Louis city police department vehicle in the front of our building,’ he said.
According to an incident report from the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police[3] Department, an officer was driving too close to a parked car and overcorrected before losing control of the vehicle.
An ‘offender’ then came outside and ‘began shouting obscenities,’ the report states. When officers who arrived after the crash ‘attempted to calm the situation,’ the unnamed offender shoved a cop before he was arrested.
Officer John Pierce wrote that Morris ‘struck me hard in the chest with an open hand, causing me to temporarily lose my balance.’
He added Morris attempted to flee after he was told that he was under arrest, ‘going through a gate and then attempting to strike me with the gate.’
However, the couple and their attorney dispute the department’s retelling of events.
Pence said he was put in handcuffs for refusing to show identification, saying: ‘I was told I had to ID or shut up.’
He admitted Morris put his hands on an officer but claimed it was ‘out of defense, because they had already put me in handcuffs.’
According to an incident report, an officer was driving too close to a parked car and overcorrected before losing control of the vehicle
Officer John Pierce claims Morris struck him in the chest with an open hand before he was arrested
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones released a statement confirming that the incident is currently under investigation
Khazaeli shared parts of another video with reporters outside the city jail Tuesday.
In that footage, which was captured by a bystander, Pence is seen confronting officers about the crash. Officers eventually handcuff him when he questions why they need to see his identification.
Morris arrives and asks why his husband is handcuffed.
He uses obscenities, and officers can be heard calling the bystanders and Morris ‘clowns.’
Morris tries to leave down a nearby alley, but several officers follow. Morris then asks if they have a warrant. He is eventually led back out in handcuffs and resists the officers’ efforts to wrestle him into the back of a police van.
Khazaeli claims his client was beaten in the alley, off camera.
Morris was released from custody Tuesday morning.
Prosecutors reduced the felony charge of third-degree assault on a special victim to fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest, two misdemeanors.
Before his release, Khazaeli fielded questions from reporters outside the justice center as Pence stood behind him.
Pence said he was put in handcuffs for refusing to show ID.
He admitted that his husband put his hands on an officer, but claims it was ‘out of defense’
Morris was originally charged with a felony, but the charges were amended to two misdemeanors
The couple’s attorney, Javad Khazaeli, accuses police of ‘trying to cover up what happened that day’
‘We have seen the probable cause statement written by the police department where they claim that our client assaulted an officer. We’ve also seen videos from people of what happened on the scene, and that’s not what occurred. The police were clearly the aggressors here,’ the lawyer said.
Gesturing to Pence, Khazaeli said the cops placed him in handcuffs ‘for having the audacity to ask why they crashed into his building.’
He asserted one of the officers said ‘You’re under arrest because you yelled at me,’ referring to the actions as a ‘public disturbance.’
The attorney further accused police of ‘trying to cover up what happened that day.’
St.
Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones released a statement confirming that the incident was being looked into.
‘Bar:PM has provided members of the LGBTQIA+ community with a gathering place and refuge from a society that continues to marginalize their very existence, and incidents like these can break an already fragile trust with law enforcement,’ she said.
‘This incident is currently under investigation and the officers will be held accountable for any and all misconduct committed while on duty.’
It is unclear if officers involved in the crash or confrontation have been suspended from their duties.
Dailymail.com reached out to the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
References
- ^ Mackenzie Tatananni For Dailymail.Com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ KSDK-TV (www.nbcnews.com)
- ^ Metropolitan Police (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Met Police (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Twitter (www.dailymail.co.uk)