Alabama Black Pastor Michael Jennings Arrested While Watering Flowers
A black pastor in Alabama said police illegally arrested him in May 2022 while he was watering his neighbor’s flowers.
Attorneys for Michael Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Alabama, released police body cam video of his arrest and said legal action was imminent. Childersburg Police Department.
“This video makes it clear that these officers decided to arrest Pastor Jennings less than five minutes after pulling up and then attempting to rewrite history claiming he failed to identify himself when it was the first thing he does,” said Harry Danielsan Atlanta attorney representing Jennings, in a statement. “This is not just an illegal arrest. It’s kidnapping.”
Childersburg police arrested Jennings on May 22 and charged him with obstructing government operations, according to the criminal complaint. A city judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, according to court documents provided to USA TODAY by Jennings’ attorneys.
The arrests and charges were “unjustified, irresponsible and illegal,” Daniels said in the statement.
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The Childersburg Police Department was not immediately available for comment.
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‘I have to be here’
Body camera video shows officers approaching Jennings, who was watering flowers and plants outside a home in Childersburg. The police asked him what he was doing, and he told them he was watering the flowers and “I have to stay here. I’m Pastor Jennings. I live across the street.”
Officers said they were answering calls about a suspicious vehicle and a suspicious person and asked Jennings for his identification; he told them he didn’t need to give them identification. Jennings said he didn’t do anything suspicious or do anything wrong.
Then shouted and Jennings said to the officers: “I told him I was a pastor. … You guys want to lock me up, lock me up. … Lock me up and see what happens out. I want you.”
At one point, Jennings accused officers of exploiting his racial record.
Then one of the officers said, “When we get the call, you have to identify yourself, you understand?”
After police handcuffed Jennings, a neighbor called police about a suspicious person who told officers she recognized Jennings. When the police asked if he was allowed to stay at home to water the flowers, she said, “He can because they’re friends.”
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Daniels claims Jennings, himself a former police officer, does not need to be identified because he is not in public, under Alabama’s Stop and Identification Law.
Daniels told USA TODAY.
A march and rally in Birmingham, he said, is planned in support of Jennings.
Daniels is one of the attorneys representing the family of Andrew Brown Jr., an unarmed black man was fatally shot in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in April 2021. The family, which filed a $30 million civil rights lawsuit, has been awarded 3 million dollars settlement in June 2022.
“Sheriff (Richard) McClelland and the Childersburg Police Department may think all they have to do is drop the charge and it’ll all go away,” he said. Bethaney Embry Jones, another attorney representing Jennings, in the statement. “This is a crime, not a mistake. I hope that the Childersburg Police Department understands the difference. “
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.