Country star Morgan Wallen arrested after throwing chair off rooftop for 'no legitimate purpose,' police say

Country music singer Morgan Wallen was arrested overnight in Nashville on felony charges after he allegedly threw a chair from a downtown rooftop for "no legitimate purpose," police said.

Wallen, 30, was booked into jail early Monday morning on three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct in connection to the late Sunday night incident, the Metro Nashville Police Department reported.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by USA TODAY, at 10:53 p.m. local time, two police officers were standing in front of Chief's Bar in the city's entertainment district on Lower Broadway when they saw a chair fall from above and hit the street about three feet from them.

In the affidavit, police wrote, the bar's staff members told officers Wallen threw the chair, and when officers reviewed video footage of incident, it showed him "lunging and throwing an object off the roof."

Chief's Bar, owned by country music singer, Eric Church, is a six-story building.

Witnesses told police they stood next to the country singer and watched him “pick up the chair, throw it over him, laughing afterward,” the affidavit continues.

Police wrote they arrested Wallen on reckless endangerment charges because two officers were in the area and the incident posed a danger to public.

The affidavit goes onto say officers arrested him for disorderly conduct because "he created a hazardous condition by an act that served no legitimate purpose."

Davidson County Sheriff's Office online records show Wallen was booked into jail at 12:36 a.m. local time and released from jail around 3:30 a.m.

A court official told USA TODAY Wallen posted a $15,250 bond.

A mugshot provided by Nashville police shows Wallen smiling in the photo.

No injuries were reported.

In a statement issued to USA TODAY through his representatives, Wallen's lawyer, Worrick Robinson, confirmed knowledge of the arrest and wrote Wallen is "cooperating fully with authorities."

Online court records show Wallen is due in court next month for a settlement hearing on the charge.

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Where is Morgan Wallen from?

Morgan was born in Sneedville, a small city in Hancock County, Tennessee, roughly 70 miles northeast of Knoxville.

In February, the singer announced he plans to open a six-story bar along Lower Broadway called "This Bar." The title comes from Wallen's 2019 song where he sings, "I found myself in this bar / Making mistakes and making new friends."

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Wallen previously criticized for video of him saying racial slur

The arrest is not the first time Wallen has drawn scrutiny for his actions in public.

In February of 2021, Wallen apologized after a video surfaced of him shouting a racial slur in Nashville that prompted swift backlash from the music industry.

In a video posted to YouTube, Wallen described what is depicted in the video as "hour 72 of 72 of a bender."

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"Obviously, the natural thing to do is to apologize further and just continue to apologize but because you got caught and that's not what I wanted to do," the singer said in the video. "I let so many people down. And [people] who mean a lot to me and give so much to me. And that's just not fair." 

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.