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Javad Khazaeli spoke out on behalf of his clients, detailing allegations of police aggression and the community’s response following a controversial arrest at popular gay bar Bar:PM.
A controversy in Missouri is brewing after police officers crashed a marked SUV into a gay bar before arresting one of the co-owners — a married gay couple — who had become upset. Now, an attorney for the men says he wants the charges dropped and all evidence preserved, and he’s considering a lawsuit for his clients.
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Javad Khazaeli, a St. Louis civil rights attorney, spoke with The Advocate on Tuesday about the contentious incident at Bar:PM, an LGBTQ+ bar in St. Louis, involving local police officers. He represents the couple, Chad Morris and James Pence.
On Sunday night, two St. Louis City probation officers, a 32-year-old man and a 22-year-old man, crashed their police SUV into the bar, according to a police spokesperson. After the owners confronted the officers, both were detained, and one was arrested.
Khazaeli questioned the changing narratives of the police. Initially, officers claimed they swerved to avoid a dog but later said it was to avoid a parked car.
Related: Police Officers First Crash Their SUV Into St. Louis Gay Bar, Then They Arrest the Bar Owner
“Preliminary investigation revealed [the police car was] traveling northbound…when [the driving officer] believed he was traveling too close to a parked car and attempted to correct himself,” the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement to The Advocate. “This action caused [the officer] to lose control of his vehicle and crash into the… building,” the spokesperson added.
Khazaeli pointed to video evidence suggesting these explanations might be inaccurate. “Have you seen the video? I mean, I guess there’s a car kind of off to the side, but it doesn’t seem like they’re even close to hitting it,” he said.
The video shows a white police SUV traveling at high speed at night on an empty street before suddenly swerving and crashing into a building on the opposite side of the street. The car doesn’t have an emergency light on.
"The police department has made no statements. They haven’t told us if the officers were drug tested or alcohol tested,” he said, highlighting a lack of transparency in the aftermath of the incident. He added that this issue is particularly pertinent in St. Louis, where there have been multiple cases of officers being found drunk while on duty.
“It’s shocking because this should never happen to anybody. But it’s not surprising because this is one more act in a long string of malfeasance by the police department,” he said.
Morris and Pence were both detained without cause during the incident, he said, describing the police’s approach as aggressive, including an officer threatening to leave the scene without filing a report unless Pence showed his ID.
When Pence questioned this, he was arrested for allegedly causing a disturbance, Khazeali said. Morris, who inquired about his husband’s arrest, was later apprehended after attempting to leave the area and was allegedly beaten by the police. Khazaeli detailed Morris’s injuries, including a black eye and scratches, and criticized the handling of his arrest.
Morris was charged with third-degree assault against a special victim and resisting or interfering with an arrest, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.
Khazaeli highlighted the impact of the incident on the bar owners, emphasizing the emotional toll it has taken on them. “We did a press conference today, and then we let Chad talk for a minute, but he is very emotional, and deservedly so. We sent him home.”
Khazaeli confirmed that he had been in contact with authorities, who subsequently agreed to release Morris on his own recognizance and reduced the charges from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Regarding the potential for legal action, Khazaeli was clear about his intentions. “Our first priority is to get rid of this criminal suit, but yes, we are contemplating a lawsuit because what happened to our client was both outrageous and illegal,” he said.
In discussing the damage to Bar: PM, Khazaeli noted the community’s quick response to help. “The whole left side of the bar, the window, and all the brick and everything has been messed up. But the inside, because a lot of people came just out of the woodwork to help, the inside was cleaned up very nicely, and it’s been boarded up,” he said.
“The bar is opening tonight, and people are coming to the bar to show their support,” Khazaeli said.
Khazaeli also discussed the immediate steps being taken in response to the incident. “Today, we’ve sent out letters to the police department and the fire department telling them that they need to preserve all videos, black boxes, everything that they have,” he revealed.
When asked about the potential jurisdiction of the lawsuit, Khazaeli was considering all options. “We’re deciding about that now. It’s all going to depend on what kind of evidence we have and what our claims are,” he said.
Khazaeli noted the unique way the LGBTQ+ community rallied around Bar: PM. “I think the term that [my client] used was the ‘gaymunity’ showed up to help him,” Khazaeli said.
Watch the press conference from earlier Tuesday below.
Bar:PM Owner Speaks Upon Release from the St. Louis Jailwww.youtube.com
