https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/st-louis-police-crash-into-lgbtq-bar-arrest-its-owner-41471787

St. Louis Police Crash Into LGBTQ Bar, Arrest Its Owner

Last night around 12:30 a.m. a St. Louis police cruiser smashed into the front window of an LGBTQ bar in Carondelet. But it was Bar:PM’s co-owner who wound up getting arrested and is currently being held in central booking.

"There were several police officers that jumped him,” says James Pence, who co-owns Bar:PM with Chad Wick, who is currently in police custody.

Pence says the police officer who ran into the bar told him that he had swerved to miss a dog in the middle of South Broadway. Pence says he does have security camera footage of the crash, though he is not making it public at this time.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment this morning. We'll update this post if we hear back.

Pence, who lives above the bar, says that he was getting ready to head to bed as two other people closed up for the night. Suddenly, he felt the whole building shake and ran downstairs.

He came down to find the police SUV in his building and an officer demanding to see his identification.

Pence says he replied: "No you don't. That's a police cruiser in my building. You don't need to see my ID. This is not how this works."

Pence says he was spun around and placed in handcuffs.

Pence’s co-owner, Wick, was taking videos and photos of the police vehicle when, according to Pence, "Three of them (officers) went for him. He raised his arm and they said he hit them."

Pence was eventually taken out of cuffs, but Wick was taken away by police.