ST. LOUIS — St. Louis police are promising a thorough investigation after a police SUV crashed into a bar. But supporters of the bar are questioning why one of the owners was arrested in the aftermath of the accident, while the officers in the SUV were not tested for intoxication.
No one was injured early Monday when the police car struck the front of Bar:PM in south St. Louis, but the windshield was shattered. Video footage released on Wednesday by Javad Khazaeli, the bar owners' lawyer, showed it was the same police SUV that ran a red light seconds before the crash. Another video showed the SUV suddenly driving into the building.
A message left with police Thursday was not immediately returned.
Chad Morris, who owns the bar with his husband, was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrest for allegedly punching an officer after the crash and then trying to run away. He was released from prison on Tuesday. Supporters filled the bar that evening.
Police Lt. Col. Renee Kriesmann said during a news briefing Wednesday that the officers involved in the crash were not tested for drugs or alcohol because other officers at the scene of the crash did not have reasonable suspicion of impairment, as required by department policy for toxicology testing . .
Both officers have less than a year of experience with the department and remain on active duty, Kriesmann said.
“We would like to assure the bar owners and the community that every aspect of this incident is being thoroughly investigated,” Kriesmann said.
But Khazaeli questioned whether the officers received special treatment.
“If I crashed into a building after midnight, while speeding, after going through a traffic light, there is no way I can let a colleague decide that I shouldn't have a breath test,” Khazaeli wrote on X, formerly known like Twitter.
Security camera footage from the opposite side of the street from the bar, released by Khazaeli earlier this week, showed the police SUV suddenly swerved across the center line and crashed into the front of the bar on a largely deserted street. Kriesmann said the officer driving the SUV became distracted while adjusting the radio and then swerved to avoid hitting a parked car.
Khazaeli has claimed the SUV was speeding, but Kriesmann said it was traveling about 40 miles per hour before the crash and 20 miles per hour after the collision, according to the vehicle's black box that records data.
The officers wore body cameras, but police declined to release footage, citing the ongoing investigation. Police said the SUV was not equipped with a dashboard camera.