Police car crashes into bar; business owner arrested
Published at | Updated atST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Surveillance video reportedly showing the moment a St. Louis police car crashed into a South City bar Monday has been released.
The crash happened just after midnight at Bar: PM, located at 7109 S. Broadway. One of the bar owners, 37-year-old Chad Morris, was arrested after the crash and charged with assault of a special victim and resisting arrest, according to court documents.
Morris was being held without bond, but Tuesday morning attorney Javad Khazaeli said he would be released on his own recognizance. He also said that the prosecutor would be amending the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
An incident report from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department stated a 32-year-old city probation officer was going north on Broadway when he “believed he was travelling too close to a parked car and attempted to correct himself.” He lost control of the vehicle and crashed into Bar: PM. Another probation officer, a 22-year-old, was in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Both officers have less than one year of service on the force.
At least two other officers, 56 and 45, responded to the scene after the crash. A probable cause statement against Morris stated he showed up and “began to yell and scream obscenities, causing a disturbance.”
Morris and another owner live above the bar in the same building.
The officer wrote in the charging document that Morris did not comply as the officer told him to back up so he could secure the scene. The officer claims Morris pushed him in the chest, and then Morris was told he was under arrest. Morris attempted to leave the area but was arrested a few moments later.
Tuesday morning, Khazaeli posted surveillance video on social media he said showed the incident. The video shows the squad car swerving and crashing into the front of the bar.
“We have video that shows that the police were the aggressors. And Chad did nothing wrong,” he wrote.
Regardless of the circumstances, many regular patrons of Bar: PM, like Zach Gandy, showed up early Monday morning to help secure the building.
Gandy is also part of the Rudis Leather Society, which holds regular events there. Currently, the organization is collecting donations for a local food bank at the bar.
“For our community this is a safe space,” he said. “For me, it was an immediate feeling that there was something I could do.”
Giuliano Mangiore, also a regular, said he found out about the incident through the bar’s call tree. Though not a professional, he was an experienced carpenter who was able to put up a sturdy facade to shore up the front of the building.
“We love each other. That’s why we’re here,” he said. “When this stuff happens and we need each other, no matter how it seems on the outside, we’re here.”
Mangiore was also frustrated, however, by the incident, and Morris’ arrest. He felt that someone from SLMPD, or from the city, should have reached out to the bar.
“No matter what happened as the backstory, someone should be here from the city of St. Louis,” he said.