Police officers crashed a cruiser into a St. Louis, Missouri, gay bar early Monday and then arrested the bar’s co-owner.
The bar, Bar:PM, sustained damage when a St. Louis Police SUV crashed into the barroom at around 12:30 a.m., but the tables turned when officers arrested co-owner, Chad Morris — also known as Chad Wick — after police alleged that he assaulted them, Riverfront Times reported. The other co-owner, James Pence, was also cuffed at the scene but not actually placed under arrest.
WATCH:
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Newly-released video shows the moment a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department cruiser crashed into Bar:PM on Monday morning.
Video provided by: Javad Khazaeli (@javadesq). pic.twitter.com/ifrdGy5TDx
— FOX2now (@FOX2now) December 19, 2023
Moments after the crash took place, officers reportedly rushed into the building to demand identification form Pence, who was working at the bar. (RELATED: Cops Ram Gun-Toting Robbery Suspect With Cruiser)
“No you don’t. That’s a police cruiser in my building. You don’t need to see my ID. This is not how this works,” Pence said he told officers, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Video Shows Car T-Boning Cruiser Carrying Boston Mayor Michelle Wu After Her Driver Allegedly Ran Red Light)
Pence said he was then cuffed while Wick waved a camera around to document the destruction before being placed under arrest, the Riverfront Times reported.
When customers heard Bar: PM was hit by a police car last night they rushed over to help this morning. They’ve been boarding up the front of the building to secure it.
.@KMOV pic.twitter.com/bVBkY5lp8m
— Nathan Vickers (@nathanvickers) December 18, 2023
“Three of them (officers) went for him. He raised his arm and they said he hit them,” Pence said, according to the outlet.
Pence was ultimately set free, but Wick was taken away in police custody and charged with felony assault, the Times reported.
“This is embarrassing for the police department,” Bar:PM attorney Javad Khazaeli commented in a separate follow-up report also published by the Times.
Khazeali maintained that his client possesses numerous video clips of the incident, the outlet noted.
In addition, a bystander filmed the immediate aftermath of the crash for around 20 minutes, and at no point does the footage show Wick striking an officer in the chest, as police accuse him of doing, Khazeali claimed, according to the Times. (RELATED: ‘Brick Of Cocaine’: Ex-Cop Admits To Selling A Kilo Of Coke Straight From Police Evidence Locker)
At a certain point, the person filming asks the officer what crime Wick committed, to which an unnamed St. Louis Police Officer responded “a disturbance,” according to the updated report.
“They unlawfully handcuffed Mr. Pence,” Khazaeli stated, the Times reported. “They falsely claim that speaking loudly is against the law. And they use that as a predicate to arrest Mr. Morris.”
The cop behind the wheel of the SUV that crashed into the gay bar was a 32-year-old probationary officer who has been on the force for less than a year, according to the Times.
The officer responsible for the crash “believed he was traveling too close to a parked car and attempted to correct himself,” according to the official police report, the outlet noted.
The owner of Bar:PM who was arrested early Monday morning by St. Louis police was beaten “pretty terribly,” says his attorney. Chad Morris showed his black eye to reporters upon his release from jail today: https://t.co/Gcj9TXL2dA
— Riverfront Times (@RiverfrontTimes) December 19, 2023
The Bar:PM lawyer claims that his client was “terribly” injured as a result of the interaction with police, the Riverfront Times reported Tuesday.