ST. LOUIS – A Jefferson County man was sentenced Thursday for running over and killing a St. Louis bar owner in 2021.

According to a spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the incident happened just after midnight on Nov. 12, 2021, at Bomber O’Brien’s Sports Bar and Grill on Beck Avenue near South Kingshighway Boulevard.

Police said an argument started inside the bar. One of those involved, William C. Warden, was thrown out of the bar.

The confrontation spilled outside the bar and onto the sidewalk, with Warden punching a man and breaking his orbital bone.

Warden and his friends got into a Chevrolet Cruze parked in a nearby lot. Warden drove onto the sidewalk in front of the bar and struck both the bar owner and another man with the vehicle.

The bar owner, James Wors of Oakville, was rushed to the hospital, where he died. Wors was 54. The second victim was also hospitalized but survived.

Warden abandoned the car about a half mile from the bar and was taken into custody a short time later.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office initially charged Warden with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, third-degree assault, fourth-degree assault, and two counts of armed criminal action.

Warden had been scheduled to go to trial in late January. However, days before the trial was to start, Warden agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges.

Prosecutors withdrew the counts of armed criminal action and fourth-degree assault and amended the murder charge to a second-degree count.

The circuit court judge presiding over the case accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Warden to 15 years in state prison.

Warden, now 29, declined to make a statement. However, Wors’ son told the court he disagreed with the plea deal.

“It’s been really hard on all of us,” he said.