St. Louis Police Didn’t Do Toxicology Test After Bar:PM Crash

And now even Gov. Parson is calling for the body cam footage to be released

Dec 20, 2023 at 4:34 pm

The scene at Bar:PM in the wee hours of Monday morning. COURTESY BAR:PM STAFF

The St. Louis police officer behind the wheel of the SUV that smashed into Bar:PM in the early hours of Monday morning had no toxicology test done on him in the wake of the incident.

At their weekly briefing, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Colonel Renee Kriesmann said that no such test was conducted on the officer because the police only do those tests when there is a "reasonable suspicion" of drug or alcohol use, which police didn't feel was the case following the crash.

The fact that police crashed their vehicle into the LGBTQ bar and then arrested one of its co-owners, Chad Morris, made news nationwide and drew condemnation from city leaders. President of the Board of Aldermen Megan Green wrote on twitter that the "incident demonstrates the need for greater oversight of law enforcement — citizen oversight in particular."

Green went on to call for the release of the footage from the body-worn cameras of the officer involved. That footage would likely shed light on the circumstances that led to the crash, as the official police story has changed in the two and half days since it occurred.

Initially, the bar's other co-owner James Pence told multiple media outlets, including the RFT, that officers told him they swerved to avoid a dog in the roadway. Then, the police said in their official incident report that the officer behind the wheel believed he was "traveling too close" to a parked car and attempted to correct himself."

Kriesmann said this afternoon that the officer behind the wheel "admits to getting distracted while attempting to change his in-car radio." Kriesmann says that the officer was driving on South Broadway in the low-40 mph range when he got distracted and swerved to miss the parked car — a parked car that the SUV looked unlikely to hit, judging by the video of the crash taken by a surveillance camera on the other side of South Broadway.

Interestingly, Governor Mike Parson has called for the release of that body cam footage more aggressively than many elected city leaders, including Mayor Tishaura Jones.

Jones released a statement yesterday calling that the officers involved in the incident be held accountable, but she didn't call for body cam footage to be released.

Parson, who was in St. Louis today speaking to reporters at the West County Mall, said about the body cam footage: "If you've got body cam footage, I don't know why you wouldn't release it." The former sheriff added, "In the old days, it will help you as much as it will ever hurt you…Be transparent and get it over with.”

Gov. Parson: “If you've got body cam footage I don't know why you wouldn't release it."
“with body cam footage in the old days, it will help you as much as it will ever hurt you."
“Be transparent and get it over with.”
— Christine Byers (@ChristineDByers) December 20, 2023