Authorities arrested Morgan Wallen on charges of reckless endangerment and more.
Just a few years ago, Country singer Morgan Wallen’s N-word tirade caught the attention of people who’d never heard his music.
Unfortunately, he has reportedly pivoted from hurling slurs to hurling chairs. As in an actual physical chair. From a rooftop and onto the street below.
That is not only bad behavior, but it’s a crime. Especially since Wallen had the bad luck of allegedly yeeting the chair awfully close to a pair of police.
Authorities arrested Morgan Wallen early on Monday
In the wee hours of Monday, April 8, police arrested Country singer Morgan Wallen following an incident at Eric Church’s honky tonk bar, Chief’s Bar, in Nashville.
According to a report by Nashville’s local News Channel 5, some officers were standing on Broadway, the location of Chief’s Bar as well as Garth Brook’s new honky tonk. A chair came hurtling down off of the roof and struck the ground in front of them.
The officers went into the establishment and spoke to staff members. Reportedly, the Chief’s Bar staff identified Morgan Wallen as the culprit. According to their accounts, he tossed the chair off of the roof and then laughed about it.
What are Morgan Wallen’s criminal charges?
Authorities arrested Wallen on three counts of reckless endangerment. That applies to the two officers who were reportedly dangerously close to the chair and for the general danger to the public.
Additionally, Wallen faces a charge of disorderly conduct. As tends to happen when one throws a chair.
Wallen’s bond was set at $15,250. Davidson County Jail released him at around 3:30 AM.
Morgan Wallen’s case has a court date
“At 10:53p Sunday evening Morgan Wallen was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct,” Wallen’s own attorney acknowledged in a statement. “He is cooperating fully with authorities.”
According to court records, Wallen will have to appear in criminal court on May 3. In a good-news, bad-news twist, he was already planning to be in Nashville on that date — as he has tour performances on May 2 and May 3 in the city.
This is, to say the least, not Wallen’s first brush with controversy. Back in May of 2020, authorities arrested Wallen on disorderly conduct charges and public intoxication charges. This was also in Nashville.
Many first heard of Morgan Wallen after he spewed racial slurs
In 2021, Morgan Wallen apologized after a leaked recording showed him saying the N-word.
To his credit, he made a thorough apology, disavowing the slur and asking fans to not try to defend him.
Of course, this news came after Wallen was facing professional consequences. Some question how sincere an apology, however thorough, can be if someone has to apologize for work. And others wonder how much the apology matters, as it’s difficult to understand why he would be hurling slurs in the first place.
What does this mean for Morgan Wallen?
Most people can probably agree that while hurling a restaurant chair off of a rooftop is a dirtbag move, it would have been worse if it had injured someone. The reason that this is a crime is because doing so requires a reckless disregard for public safety.
Truth be told, getting arrested on these charges is still something that Wallen can “come back from” as an entertainer. Rough, dangerous behavior in a bar isn’t okay or excusable, but it’s seldom evil.
To many, Morgan Wallen will always be “N-word guy.” Reckless behavior in a bar is more physically dangerous, but is fundamentally more understandable than the use of racist slurs.
Morgan Wallen has a new mugshot
Later Monday morning, hours after Wallen’s release from jail and when his arrest was already making the rounds on social media, Metro Nashville PD released Wallen’s mugshot.
Additionally, the post confirmed the amount of his bond as well as his felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges.
We’ve seen worse mugshots. But hopefully this will be his last.