A probationary officer crashed his vehicle through the front window of a gay bar in Missouri, but the bar owner is the one who is facing criminal charges.
The incident took place early Monday morning, when the probationary officer’s 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe crashed into the front of Bar:PM, in the Carondelet neighbourhood of south St. Louis, Missouri. Reportedly, he was trying to avoid a parked car and lost control but there have also been conflicting reports saying that he lost control trying to avoiding hitting a dog in the road. Most importantly, no one was injured in the accident (dogs included).
Bar:PM co-owner, James Pence had been in bed upstairs at the time of the crash and was handcuffed after he refused to hand over ID to one of the policemen. Bar:PM’s other owner, and Pence’s husband, Chad Morris, was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer. However, Morris’ attorney, Javad Khazaeli, claims that the arrest was unwarranted and that his client did not assault an officer, as shown by video footage taken by bystanders.
Sooo. 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. 1/ pic.twitter.com/O8EWa8v3uZ
— Javad Khazaeli (@javadesq) December 19, 2023
Morris’ attorney, Javad Khazaeli, claimed that video footage taken by bystanders does not match up with the police narrative and does not show his client assaulting an officer, further arguing the arrest was unwarranted. “We have video that shows that the police were the aggressors. And Chad did nothing wrong,” Khazaeli tweeted yesterday. Khazaeli says that prosecutors have agreed to reduce the felony assault charge to a misdemeanor, but that he believes it isn’t enough given the fact he believes his client did nothing wrong.
Pence told the Riverfront Times that the police need to “own it, tell me what happened and fix the building”.
The bar is open again for business and its Facebook page expresses gratitude for the outpouring of support from its patrons during this time.
