ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Missouri top lawmaker is urging St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to release body cam footage of the incident at Bar: P.M. where the owner was arrested after a police car drove into his bar.
During a stop in St. Louis, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was asked about the incident, and he gave some of the strongest remarks regarding it, pushing the city police department to release body cam footage.
"If you've got body cam footage, I don't know why you wouldn't release it," said Parson, who was a former County Sheriff in Polk County.
St. Louis Metro discussed the incident Wednesday in which owner Chad Morris, 36, was arrested after a police SUV driven by a Probationary Officer crashed into the front of his bar. Morris was charged with fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest, two misdemeanors.
Lieutenant Colonel Renee Kreismann says responding officers determined that the probationary police officer smashing into the bar was an accident and that the officer admits being distracted.
However, Kreismann says they are not releasing the police body cam video and there is no dash cam video. Kreismann cites it due to being an active investigation.
"There's a criminal investigation a part of this, and the body cam camera is a part of it," said Kreismann. "We cannot release it at this time."
Police allege Morris made profane remarks and pushed an officer in the chest after the incident. However, Morris' lawyer Javad Khazaeli says that's not what happened and is accusing police of beating his client away from the camera.
"You can hear him yelling when they are beating him," Khazaeli told KMOX. "You can't see the beatdown, but when they bring him back up the alleyway, you can see his shirt ripped off him, bloodied."
It is a discretion of the department whether to release body cam video, but Parson thinks the department should cause he believes it would help their case.
"It's help just as much as it ever hurts you," said Parson. "It's really helps you to let people know what happened. I always think law enforcement wise, you investigate it, give police time. But be transparent and get it over with."