Safety concerns after Morgan Wallen charged with throwing chair off Broadway bar rooftop
By Brendan Tierney
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — An investigation is underway after country music star Morgan Wallen was arrested Sunday night for throwing a chair off the top of a six-story Broadway bar.
The Metro Nashville Police Department said the 30-year-old singer almost hit two officers who were standing in the road outside Eric Church’s new bar, Chief’s. The arrest affidavit said the chair landed within three feet of them around 10:53 p.m.
The officers reviewed security video from the bar, according to the affidavit, which showed Wallen lunging and throwing the chair off the roof. A witness told officers Wallen threw the chair over him and laughed afterward.
Wallen is facing multiple felony charges, including reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct. He was released from jail around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning on a combined $15,250 bond.
“I’ve thought about that all morning. How do you explain why a 30-year-old man would decide to throw a stool off the top of a rooftop bar?” said Benton McDonough, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife. “I am simply dumbfounded.”
McDonough said nightlife staff, the Metro Beer Board, police and the fire marshal are all investigating the incident. Right now, there are no rules around netting or other safety barriers that are required on rooftop bars to keep items from falling to the street and sidewalk below.
Items falling off rooftop Broadway bars is a sporadic issue, McDonough said, but he is committed to addressing the problem to keep people safe. He would like to see better barriers to prevent things from being dropped along with a new coordinator to work with bar security and all Metro agencies involved.
“I think the more expansive (rooftop bar ledges) are, I think the better that is because I think that cuts down on accidental spills that we see from time to time,” McDonough said. “It also makes it more difficult for someone to actually throw an object from the roof, and it makes it more likely with the cameras we have, in the bars and that sort of thing, to be able to catch the culprit who does take that action.”
Chief’s opened on Friday, April 5, and has a marquee that reads “the trouble begins.” A bar manager told WSMV4 they are not releasing video of the incident and have no comment at this time.
Aaron Liebowitz was visiting Nashville over the weekend with his family. The New Jersey native said someone could’ve easily been killed by the chair and he is concerned copycats might try to imitate Wallen.
“I’m shocked, frankly,” Liebowitz said. “Anyone could be standing there at any time. I don’t think anyone wants a chair hitting them. Thank God they did something about it because if they don’t do something about it anyone will think, ‘If he can do it, then they can do it.’”
Liebowitz and Kelly Calhoon, visiting with her family from Ohio, said they both would like to see safety barriers installed on Broadway bars.
Calhoon called it a “serious danger” that could ruin someone’s trip to Nashville even with something much smaller than a chair, like a beer can, being thrown off a rooftop.
“It does ruin the aesthetic, so I get why they don’t have them up,” Calhoon said. “For safety, it is an issue, and they should do something. They should put something in place for that.”
Wallen’s attorney issued a statement to WSMV4 that said he is, “cooperating fully with authorities.”
The singer is due in court at 10:30 a.m. on May 3, according to court records. That is the morning after the first of three concerts he is playing at Nissan Stadium.
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