Jonathan Mattise, Kristin M. Hall
Country music superstar Morgan Wallen made national news when police charged him with tossing a chair off a Nashville honky-tonk roof and almost hitting two police officers in April 2024. When he pleaded guilty in December 2024, chief videojournalist Kristin Hall and newsperson Jonathan Mattise knew the story wasn’t over.
The case’s conclusion meant a slew of police camera footage should become public record. Hall and Mattise filed a public records request with Nashville police the same day as Wallen’s plea hearing. After delays and fees, police produced the video late last month, which the AP exclusively published.
Hall and Mattise watched the footage and quickly noted that Wallen did not admit to throwing the chair during the roughly hour and a half he spent with police on video, which was captured from several officers’ body-worn cameras. The video also showed that Wallen handed an officer a cell phone and told him to speak with Eric Church, another country star and owner of the bar where Wallen had allegedly thrown the chair. What Church said isn’t audible, but the officer replied, “it’s not really something we can do” and “gotta treat it like we would with anybody else.”
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