Black pastor, who was arrested for watering neighbor's flowers, files lawsuit agai ·
Isabella Ramos
CHILDERSBURG, ALABAMA: A Black pastor, Michael Jennings of Vision of Abundant Life Ministries in Sylacauga, was arrested by the police in May 2022. He was arrested soon after police received a complaint on 911 about a strange man and vehicle on the property outside his neighbor's yard.
Though neighbors vouched for him, and despite his good intentions, police arrested and handcuffed him. However, the police later realized the person who called 911 didn't recognize him as the culprit. Meanwhile, Pastor is now filing a lawsuit against the police for racially profiling him and denying his rights.
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According to DailyMail, a bodycam video captured by Childersburg Police Department, Alabama depicted, Jennings, laughing in disbelief and stating, "Y'all racially profiled me." An unidentified officer responded: "We're not racially profiling you" Jennings then rebuked, "Yes, you did." The officer continued, "No sir, no sir. We're not about that okay?" In the video, it is clear, police were compulsively arresting Pastor. When he was trying to explain, that he was just watering the neighbor's flowers, a policeman asked, "How do we know that's the truth?" To which the pastor responded, "I had the water hose in my hand! I was watering the flowers." Check out the bodycam video here.
Three officers from Childersburg Police Department were screaming at Jennings as he refused to provide identification. A lady resident who lives close by came in support of the pastor and said, "He lives right there." To which the police asked, "Does he have permission to be watering flowers?" The lady then responded: "He may because they are friends, and they went out of town today and he may be watering their flowers. It would be completely normal." She later added: "This is probably my fault."
The video also shows Jennings stating how his long-term neighbor will be pissed at the police's action, "He is going to be so p****d when I tell him I got arrested for watering his flowers." said Pastor. However, Jennings was later charged with obstruction of government operation. The charges were dropped a month later, meanwhile, the pastor is set to file a discrimination lawsuit against the officers. Following the ordeal, Jennings said that the 'emotional toll' will take him some time to recover.
In a conversation with DailyMail, Harry Daniels, Pastor's Attorney stated, "He's a pastor, he's a man of faith, but I would be remissive if I didn't tell you that what he's dealing with is very hard. A split moment he felt his life could have been taken from him if he showed any resistance, even though he was right in the video." Daniels also said that when police asked Jennings to prove his identity, he refused the same. This is because having a background in law enforcement Jennings knew that he was not obliged to because he has not committed a crime and was on private property.
Daniels claimed, "If you noticed in the video, when a neighbor, the white lady said he lived [around] there, they took her word as the gospel, and the pastor who is preaching the gospel, they did not take his word at all." The attorney added, "A suit needs to be filled to prevent these things from happening - and put in front of law enforcement a notice that they cannot intimidate or harass, or abuse their powers."
He then said, "These cases put law enforcement on notice and the country on notice that these types of interactions - thank God that Pastor Jennings had a cool head." Further, he stated, "He didn't get aggressive or defensive in a sense, and he complied when the officers grabbed him. It represents racial profiling and it represents law-enforcement officers intimidating a person who actually understands and knows their rights."
Meanwhile, Rick McClelland, Childersburg Police Chief, told an investigation would be conducted to understand the situation. The lawsuit against the Childersburg Police Department hasn't been filed yet. Bethaney Embry Jones, another attorney of Jennings spoke to DailyMail and stated that the police may think the situation will be resolved by dropping the charges. "This was a crime, not a mistake," Jones said. "I would hope that the Childersburg Police Department would understand the difference."
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