ST. LOUIS — A month after a St. Louis police officer drove into Bar:PM and arrested the bar owner, cellphone video sheds light on what happened in the moments following the crash.
Exactly one month ago, attorney Javad Khazaeli says his clients' lives were turned upside down.
“(My client) was in bed, in his home, above his business, when a car smashed into his house,” Khazaeli said. “He immediately comes outside, and instead of being treated like a victim -- an officer starts threatening him.”
Twenty-two seconds into the two-minute video, officers can be heard asking one of the Bar'PM’s owners for their ID before one of them was then placed in handcuffs.
“Everybody has the right to ask an officer what they’re doing,” Khazaeli said. “An officer only has the right to demand an ID if a person is driving a car or if the person has probable cause to think that the person committed a crime.”
The video showed an officer explaining that the man was being arrested for yelling.
“Officers don’t get to arrest you for yelling at them," Khazaeli said. "In fact, there are Supreme Court cases that say you can curse at an officer.”
The person recording the video can be heard asking the officer for his badge number.
“Keep interfering and you’ll be in handcuffs too clown,” the St. Louis officer can be heard telling the recorder.
“They’re supposed to protect and serve,” Khazaeli said. “This officer immediately goes to rage level 10 and starts threatening everybody around them. He doesn’t give his badge number.”
That’s why Khazaeli said he believes charges against the arrested bar owner should be dismissed.
“My client did nothing wrong,” Khazaeli. “He shouldn’t have been in handcuffs. The officer was escalating. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for that.”
A spokesperson for the St. Louis City Prosecutor’s Office told 5 On Your Side they are still pursuing misdemeanor charges against the owner of Bar:PM.
A hearing is set for Friday, Jan. 26.
