click to enlarge COURTESY BAR:PM STAFF Heard the one about the cops who crashed into an LGBTQ bar in south city — and then arrested the co-owner for felony assault? Only in St. Louis. Read the full story here.
The owners of the building that houses Bar:PM, the LGBTQ bar struck last month by a careening St. Louis Police SUV, are now being told by the city their building could be condemned because of the damage done by the cop car.
KMOX’s Sean Malone had the scoop Friday, citing a letter the City of St. Louis sent to Kevin Benear and John Claus, who own the building on South Broadway in the Carondelet neighborhood.
The letter, which you can read in full on KMOX’s website, is from a building inspector with the Department of Public Safety. It says that the building is not up to code, presumably because of the large pieces of plywood covering the hole created when the SUV hit it, and that the building will be re-inspected February 19.
The letter adds that if the issues are not resolved, the building could be condemned for occupancy.
"If the police were responsible for the damage, then why should we be getting these letters to get it fixed?" Claus told Malone.
The Building Division’s Frank Oswald told KMOX that the letter sent to the building owners was “very general” and that while it stated that the city could condemn the building, it was not a threat to do so.
At a press conference earlier this month police chief Robert Tracy addressed the incident for the first time, saying, "I feel bad….And I'm sorry that their establishment got hit."
Bar:PM co-owner Chad Morris was charged with assault after the SUV struck his business. Police say that he struck an officer “hard in the chest with an open hand,” though the bystander video of the incident shows no such shove. Police have thus far not made body cam footage public.
Morris is due in court February 2.