A St. Louis judge has thrown out the criminal case against a bar owner whose arrest garnered national attention because it happened after a police SUV crashed into his business.
Circuit Judge Rochelle Woodiest on Friday granted a motion from Chad Morris’ attorneys to dismiss the case. Morris was facing a misdemeanor assault charge, accused of hitting a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer who had responded to the crash.
“This has been a very long two years, and it should have ended a long time ago,” Morris said Thursday after a court hearing.
Morris and his husband, James Pence, own Bar:PM in the Carondelet neighborhood. Early in the morning of Dec. 18, 2023, a police SUV with two officers inside crashed into the building. The driver, a rookie officer, initially claimed he swerved to avoid a dog. The Riverfront Times later reported that a department commander said the driver admitted to “getting distracted while attempting to change his in-car radio.”
Morris’ attorney, Javad Khazaeli, obtained video that appears to show the SUV running a red light just before the crash. The officers in the SUV were never given a toxicology test.
Prosecutors initially charged Morris with felony assault and resisting arrest. The assault charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and prosecutors later dropped the resisting charge.
In the hearing in Woodiest's courtroom on Thursday, defense attorneys outlined numerous failures by the state to make evidence available. It included text messages from every officer who responded to the scene of the crash in 2023, statements by the driver and passenger in the SUV and internal police evaluations that are filed when officers use force.
Khazaeli had told the judge and Assistant Circuit Attorney Rob Huq he understood the police department was to blame for the problems with handing over evidence. But he said that he could not prepare for a case that was scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 12 without it.
A police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
The circuit attorney’s office said in a statement that it “takes its discovery obligations extremely seriously.”
“The Circuit Attorney’s Office has done everything within its power to comply with the Court’s order. The Circuit Attorney’s Office, however, respects the Court’s ruling to dismiss the case and will not be appealing the matter,” the statement said.
Pence, who was the first to come downstairs after the crash, was also handcuffed for allegedly interfering with the investigation, though he was never charged. He later filed a civil lawsuit against the SUV’s passenger and a responding officer accusing them of assault and battery, as well as negligence claims against the city.
Morris said Thursday he relives the night of Dec. 18, 2023, every day.
“Every time I’m followed by a police car, any time there’s…” he said, his voice trailing off. “It’s always triggering. It’s a daily process.”
