After Police Cruiser Crashes Into Missouri Bar, Bar Co-Owner Is Arrested
Chad Morris, co-owner of Bar:PM in St. Louis, Mo., is facing assault charges, but his husband claims officers 'jumped' him
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to add details from a statement issued by the St. Louis Police Department.
A bar owner was arrested in connection with an alleged assault after officers crashed into his Missouri bar. However, a witness claimed he was “jumped” by officers prior to the arrest, according to the Riverfront Times.
Chad Morris, co-owner of Bar:PM in St. Louis, Mo., has been charged with assault and resisting arrest following the incident on Monday, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE.
A police cruiser crashed into the bar on early Monday morning, police said, according to Fox 2 and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Javad Khazaeli, who identified himself as the attorney for the bar owners on X (formerly Twitter), shared a clip of the police cruiser hitting the bar and claimed that police were the "aggressors."
In the probable cause affidavit, an officer said they were responding to an “officer-involved accident” at the location. According to the affidavit, the responding officer was helping with the investigation when Morris “began to yell and scream obscenities, causing a disturbance.” He added that Morris allegedly hit him after the officer asked him to wait so that they could speak a bit later.
“I told defendant he was under arrest at which time he attempted to flee from me, going through a gate and then attempting to strike me with the gate,” the officer said in the affidavit, adding that Morris then “pushed a trash can” at another officer as they chased after him.
James Pence, co-owner of the bar and Morris’ husband, gave a different account, per the Riverfront Times.
"There were several police officers that jumped him,” he said, according to the Riverfront Times.
"Three of them (officers) went for him. He raised his arm and they said he hit them," he claimed later, per the outlet.
He claimed authorities placed him in handcuffs as well after they asked for his identification following the crash.
“That's a police cruiser in my building. You don't need to see my ID. This is not how this works,” he said when authorities asked for his identification, according to the Riverfront Times.
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When the crash took place, Morris was closing up the bar with another bar employee and Pence was in their residence above the bar, according to Fox 2.
“I was in bed. I heard a loud bang. I felt the building shake,” Pence told Fox 2. “I ran down from upstairs.”
He added that the officer behind the wheel apologized and said he “literally swerved to miss a dog.”
Police gave a different account in a statement shared with PEOPLE. They said the driver “believed he was traveling too close to a parked car” and swerved, causing the crash. The department also confirmed in the statement that no officers were injured in the accident and the investigation is ongoing.
The statement also added that the driver of the cruiser was a 32-year-old St. Louis City Probation Officer.
A judge determined on Monday that Morris will be held without bond and said he poses a threat to the community, according to court records. However, Khazaeli said on X that this morning, the prosecutors office decided to release Pence on his own recognizance.
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