A Carondelet bar owner is currently locked up in the City Justice Center downtown, accused of felony assault, a charge that has outraged many due to the fact that he picked it up after a St. Louis Police SUV crashed into the front of his business.
"This is embarrassing for the police department," says Javad Khazaeli, the attorney for Bar:PM co-owner Chad Morris. Khazaeli says there are multiple videos of the collision and its aftermath that tell a different story than the one police are alleging and show that Morris' arrest was unwarranted.
"I'm hopeful that the prosecuting attorney's office, when they see the evidence that we have, dismisses these charges and holds the police accountable," Khazaeli says.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police have not responded to our messages seeking comment.
The collision happened around 12:30 a.m. Monday, when the police SUV traveling north on South Broadway crashed into the front of the LGTBQ bar owned by Morris and his husband James Pence, just as it was closing up.
Pence told the RFT yesterday that when the crash occurred he came downstairs to find an officer demanding to see his identification. Pence refused, and was spun around and placed in handcuffs. He wasn't arrested, but Morris was, accused of felony assault on a police officer and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Police claimed in charging documents that after the crash Morris "scream[ed] obscenities." One officer wrote that he "struck me hard in the chest with an open hand, causing me to temporarily lose my balance." Morris then allegedly fled into a gangway between the bar and another building, closing a gate on an officer as he did, according to the police statement.
Khazaeli says that a 20-minute bystander video of the incident tells its own story.
"They unlawfully handcuffed Mr. Pence," Khazaeli says. "They falsely claim that speaking loudly is against the law. And they use that as a predicate to arrest Mr. Morris."
A portion of the bystander video was viewed by the RFT. That portion shows what took place between the crash and prior to Morris' arrest. It shows Pence being put in handcuffs. At one point, the person filming the video asks what crime has been committed. An unidentified St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer responds, "a disturbance."
The officer then walks toward the person taking the video and says, "He's not going to yell at me, that's causing a disturbance."
At no time does the 20-minute bystander video show Morris striking an officer in the chest, Khazaeli says.
The RFT has also viewed the video taken from a different vantage point on South Broadway that shows the collision itself. That video shows the police SUV traveling at what appears to be a high rate of speed northbound on South Broadway. The vehicle suddenly swerves to avoid a car parked against the curb, which the SUV didn't look like it was going to hit anyway. The SUV careens across the turning lane, the lane going in the opposite direction and the sidewalk and then into BAR:PM.
The police vehicle was driven by a 32-year-old probationary officer who had been with the department for less than a year. The official police incident report said that the driver "believed he was traveling too close to a parked car and attempted to correct himself."
Khazaeli says, "They lost control of the vehicle. And immediately the video shows the police officers being aggressive with everybody in the area to cover up what they did."
Morris was ordered to be held without bond in the City Justice Center on Monday. It is unclear as of right now when Morris will have a bond hearing, though one is expected to occur either later today or tomorrow morning at the latest.
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