this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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Bar owner is arrested after St. Louis police officer crashes into his business (www.seattletimes.com)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Sorry folks, this didn't look paywalled for me when I posted it.

Links others have provided:

https://archive.md/EwTss

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/20/gay-bar-pm-st-louis-police-crash-owner-arrest/71986781007/

all 43 comments
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[–] fpslem@lemmy.world 100 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Non-paywalled article here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/20/gay-bar-pm-st-louis-police-crash-owner-arrest/71986781007/

Officers arrested one of the bar's owners because he refused to show them ID? The officers just crashed into his bar in the middle of the night, he gets out of bed to see what that loud noise was, and they arrest him because he won't show them ID? In Missouri police can only ask to see ID if there is a reasonable suspicion of some wrongdoing, and I can't see that a building owner is doing anything wrong when he checks on the probationary cops that just plowed into his building because they suck at driving or were driving too fast.

[–] chaogomu@kbin.social 59 points 9 months ago (1 children)

because they suck at driving or were driving too fast.

They ran a red light just before the crash, and other officers refused to use a breathalyzer on them. No blood samples were taken either.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago

ACAB

[–] Big_Boss_77@kbin.social 36 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Owning a building/business while gay is a felony in Missouri...

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oh shit, is the bar owner gay? I live in Missouri, on the opposite end of the state, and there's a gay couple that own a really popular bar in town.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The business they smashed into is an LGBT bar

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@kbin.social 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I’ve been seriously thinking of building an LGBT bar. Does anyone know where I can purchase gay bricks?

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)
[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 8 months ago

Man it’s so cheap to live in WV. Too bad it’s in WV.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Gay bricks are made from gay clay, so they say

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Wanna sit by the bay and eat some hay? I just may. What do ya say?

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

“I was in bed. I heard a loud bang. I felt the building shake. I ran down from upstairs. He actually apologized to me.," Pence told Fox 2. "He said ‘I literally swerved to miss a dog.’ He was very–he was actually extremely nice. He was the nicest officer out there.”

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The cops keep changing their story. It's been at least a dog and a parked car that I know of. Then there's the bodycam footage they won't release. Then there's the security cam footage showing them run a redlight (dramatically) seconds before the collision. They also didn't breathalyze the office or otherwise test him for DWI.

Each of the above points is supported by one or more of the links below.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/st-louis-police-ran-red-light-seconds-before-crashing-into-bar-lawyer-says/article_0f83a914-9fa7-11ee-82b6-e79f499ffa19.html (includes video)

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/police-wont-release-body-camera-footage-in-suvs-crash-into-st-louis-bar/article_c9a5b148-a10a-11ee-a8b2-2f4609f45b8c.html

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvme3/st-louis-gay-bar-police-crash

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/st-louis-police-suv-that-hit-bar-pm-ran-a-red-light-moments-earlier-41489947

[–] owatnext@lemmy.world 62 points 9 months ago (1 children)

My experience with Missouri police was not a good one. They lied and said my taillights (yes, both) were out and "that" was why they pulled me over apparently. So he took me to his car, where I could see my taillights functioning, and accused me of smuggling drugs from México. Apparently, because I had taken a road trip to New Mexico (which he interrogated out of me), that means that I had drugs from the country México. Tell me how a police officer doesn't know New Mexico is a state...

To top it all off, he told me to stop breaking the law and let me on my way without so much as a clue to what law I was breaking.

[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 54 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Don't talk to police officers.

Memorize this script:

  • “Why did you pull me over?”
  • (When they ask questions like where are you going? Where are you coming from? What is that smell?) “I’m not discussing my day.
  • “Am I being detained or am I free to go?” (If you are being detained, invoke the 5th amendment.)
[–] Thassodar@lemm.ee 33 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This works significantly better if you are of the less melanated complexion.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

We'll see that's your first problem right there.

Gotta figure out how to not be dark skinned.

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Just wear a white pointy bed sheet with holes for the eyes and they'll think you're one of them.

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Just wear a white pointy bed sheet with holes for the eyes and they’ll think you’re one of them.

[–] Decoy321@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm genuinely curious, what were you trying to communicate by directly quoting their entire comment?

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was trying to accomplish that if they delete their account or comment there is still context for the comic I posted.

I'm genuinely curious why that would be bothersome in any case.

[–] Decoy321@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ah, I understand. I was just curious. I personally didn't find it bothersome, but I don't speak for anyone but me.

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 2 points 8 months ago

All good, and I apologize for assuming your tone. (Strangely I thought I'd already replied but Kbin seems to have eaten it.)

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

This article is utterly devoid of details. I hope to hear more about this soon.

[–] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Cop ran red light, swerved across two lane and hit the gay bar. Then they went after the owner and trumped up an assault charge when witnesses say there was no assault. Oh and first they tried to say they were swerving to miss a dog, then to miss a parked car.

I think that's about the jist of it.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

... Did you just stop at the title?

There's like 25 paragraphs detailing the whole situation. Only thing really missing is the footage NYT supposedly saw.

[–] don@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The article is paywalled.

[–] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Huh, wasn't for me, but ~~NYT~~ Seattle Times (fooled by the damn font) so...

Https://12ft.io

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Cops who break the law should lose qualified community and have harsher penalties. Arrest these cops for assault, fabricating police reports, and making false witness statements.

[–] Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Abuses of a position of public trust should be a capital crime.

[–] flipht@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There shouldn't be capital crimes at all, because the people deciding who committed a capital crime and should die are the ones who shoot people in the wrong house or speed drunk through red lights and blame the victims.

[–] Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Capital punishment should be limited to police officers, elected/appointed government officials, and select white collar crime. People that are given positions of public trust and power should be held to a higher standard of discipline to ensure they don't abuse their power.

[–] flipht@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago

I guess my point is that I don't trust half of our establishment to use such an ability at all, even if it would be valid/legal/morally correct to do so, and the other half will use it to punish their opponents regardless of reality.

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago

Qualified Immunity already doesn't protect police from breaking the law. Police don't get in trouble for breaking the law because their buddies protect them, not because of Qualified Immunity. That's to protect officers from being sued for rights violations. As in, they can violate your rights to privacy, free speech, freedom of association, etc, and not get in trouble for it. You have to sue the city/state instead.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What does their being gay have anything to do with this except act as rage bait?