CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — A former Chesterfield police officer is facing a felony assault charge after police say he assaulted a man at a bar and passed out his Chesterfield police business card as a way to try to “intimidate” people because of his job, according to court documents.
St. Louis County prosecutors charged Charles Thompson, 33, with one count of third-degree assault after St. Louis County police say he struck a man at TJ Wings in Valley Park on December 11, 2021.
Thompson worked for the Chesterfield police department from May 2013 through Dec. 21, 2021, according to Chesterfield Lt. Chris Connelly.
“As soon as we learned about the incident, he was suspended and then he chose to resign before the Internal Affairs investigation could be completed,” Connelly said.
Police said Thompson broke several items at the bar on the night in question. The alleged victim was holding a cold compress on his eye when officers arrived, and told police he was having a “pleasant” conversation with Thompson when Thompson became “enraged, stood up, and hit him causing him to fall to the ground,” according to the documents.
Another employee at the bar told police they saw Thompson come into the bar around 12:30 a.m. and get into an argument with an elderly customer, which caused that customer to leave, according to court documents.
That’s when Thompson approached the victim he allegedly hit. The employee said Thompson told multiple people at the bar that he was a police officer and handed the bartender his business card, according to the documents.
The bartender told police Thompson was “cocky” and said it felt like he was “trying to intimidate people with his job,” according to the documents.
A St. Louis County police officer then arrested Thompson, who told the officer he was going to set TJ Wings on fire, according to the documents.
The victim then told police he did not want to press charges and “ruin the officer’s career,” but Thompson repeatedly threatened to harm the victim while sitting in the St. Louis County officer’s car and said he did not care if he got fired, according to the documents.
Surveillance footage showed Thompson sit down next to the victim and talk to him, but at about 17 minutes later, Thompson stood up close to the victim. The victim stood up and Thompson struck the victim in the right eye with his right elbow, according to the documents. The victim fell back, and Thompson then jumped on him, causing the victim’s body to slam into multiple chairs and hit the ground, according to the documents.
The alleged assault lasted 1 minute and 15 seconds, before the bartender was able to separate the men, according to the documents.
The victim then sent an email to the West County Precinct three days later saying he wanted to pursue charges, and had additional injuries including a lump on the back of his neck, a bruised tail bone and multiple scratches to his tail bone area and pain in his right leg, according to the documents.
