A police officer crashed his patrol car into a popular gay bar in St. Louis, Missouri, early Monday morning, eventually leading to the arrest of one of its co-owners after confronting police about the accident.
Chad Morris, 37, is accused of pushing an officer after the crash at Bar:PM, which he co-owns with his husband, James Pence.
Morris was arrested and charged with felony assault, but prosecutors later reduced the charge to misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest.
He was released on Tuesday on his own recognizance, after which his Defense attorney Javad Khazaeli posted on X. to dispute the allegations against his client.
Khazaeli, known for handling police misconduct cases, even posted footage of the crash.
“You all heard about the police car that crashed into Bar:PM on Sunday night. And they arrested the owner for having the audacity to question him,” Khazaeli posted on X. “Well, here’s the video.”
An attached 15-second clip showed a patrol car speeding down a dimly lit road without sirens on and approaching a vehicle parked on the shoulder.
A police vehicle crashed into a popular gay bar in St. Louis, Missouri, early Monday morning.
In an apparent attempt to avoid hitting the vehicle, something that does not appear to put the patrol car in danger, the officer quickly swerves to the left and crashes into the establishment.
Morris and Pence live in an apartment above the bar, and Pence said he was in bed Sunday night when he heard a “loud bang” around 12:30 a.m., he told KSDK.
“I jumped up thinking it was a one-vehicle accident, and then I saw it and it was a St. Louis City Police Department vehicle in front of our building.”
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department claims an officer was driving too close to a parked car and overcorrected before losing control of the vehicle, according to an incident report obtained by NBC News.
What happened next is unclear, as both the St. Louis Police Department and the bar owners offer different accounts.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department says an officer was driving too close to a parked car and overcorrected before losing control of the vehicle.
Police say an “offender” came out and “began yelling obscenities,” the incident report says.
Then, when other officers arrived at the scene and “tried to calm the situation,” the unidentified “criminal” pushed one of the officers.
Officer John Pierce also allegedly wrote that Morris “hit me hard in the chest with his open hand, causing me to temporarily lose my balance,” the Riverfront Times reports.
He went on to claim that Morris attempted to flee after being arrested by “going through a door and trying to hit me with the door.”
But Khazaeli and Pence have disputed that version of events, and their attorney claims to have video from a bystander at the scene that shows Pence approaching the crash site and an officer asking him if he is the owner.
When Pence responded yes, the officer asked to see his identification, Khazaeli claimed, and when he questioned the orders, the officer handcuffed him.
Bar: PM co-owner Chad Morris, 37, was arrested on assault charges.
“They told me I had to identify myself or shut up,” Pence told KSDK.
The video, which Khazaeli said he will not make public because he plans to use it in Morris’ defense but which he showed to some local media, also captures a person filming the situation and asking the police officer what crime had been committed.
An unidentified officer simply responds: “a disturbance,” according to the Riverfront Times, which said it had seen parts of the clip.
The officer then walks up to the bystander who was filming the incident and allegedly tells him, “You’re not going to yell at me, that’s causing a disturbance.”
Khazaeli also claimed that one of the police officers told Pence, “You’re under arrest because you yelled at me” and referred to Pence’s questioning of his orders as a “public disturbance.”
Defense attorney Khazaeli claims the video shows the officer saying, “You’re under arrest because you yelled at me.”
Soon, Khazaeli claims, Morris arrived at the scene and asked why her husband was handcuffed.
Upset by the situation, Morris allegedly began using obscenities as officers are accused of calling him and bystanders “clowns.”
Morris tried to leave through an alley, but was chased by police and beaten in an alley off-camera, according to Khazaeli.
When Morris appeared in the bystander footage, he was handcuffed and had several bruises and a black eye, according to St. Louis Today.
“The police were clearly the aggressor here,” Khazaeli said at a news conference Tuesday.
James Pence claims he was handcuffed when he questioned the officer’s orders to show him his ID.
“They lost control of the vehicle. And immediately, the video shows the police officers being aggressive towards everyone in the area to cover up what they did,” he stated, saying that at no point in the bystander video could Morris be seen pushing Officer Pierce.
He said the officers handcuffed Pence for “having the audacity to ask why they crashed into his building.”
“They illegally handcuffed Mr. Pence,” Khazaeli continued. “They falsely claim that speaking loudly is illegal. And they use it as an argument to arrest Mr. Morris.”
Additionally, he told NBC News, “Our goal is to dismiss all of these charges because they are baseless, and then decide what kind of claims my clients have against these officers and hold the officers accountable, because this simply cannot happen.” I’m not standing.
It is unclear if any of the officers involved in the incident faced any disciplinary action.
It is unclear if any of the officers involved in the incident faced any disciplinary action. The Post has contacted the St. Louis Police Department for comment.
Meanwhile, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones confirmed that the incident is being investigated.
“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 authorities,” he said. he said in a statement.
“This incident is currently under investigation and the officers will be held accountable for any and all misconduct committed while on duty.”
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn