A Black pastor sues the police who arrested him while watering his neighbor’s flowers
Michael Jennings, the Black pastor arrested while watering his neighbor’s flowers, has filed a federal lawsuit against the police officers involved in his detainment.
The lawsuit also names the city of Childersburg, which oversees the police department that arrested Jennings, as a defendant.
Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Ala., is represented by national civil rights attorney, Harry Daniels, and attorneys Bethaney Embry Jones, Joi Travis and Roderick Van Daniels. They hosted a news conference Saturday with the Alabama NAACP to discuss the case.
“I’m here for accountability, and I’m here for justice,” Jennings said.
The lawsuit says Jennings is suffering with emotional distress and “significant PTSD type symptoms” that include nightmares and flashbacks.
He is asking for a jury to hear the case and to determine compensatory and punitive damages as well as money to cover the costs of the lawsuit, including attorneys’ fees.
Alabama NAACP President Benard Simelton said in a statement to NPR that there are concerns about the officers’ training.
“These poor judgment decisions reflect poorly on the type of training the Childersburg police officers receive … if they were acting in accordance within police guidelines,” he added.
The attorneys representing Jennings said the release of the body camera video will furthermore clear the way for “legal action against the officers and more.”
“This video makes it clear that these officers decided they were going to arrest Pastor Jennings less than five minutes after pulling up and then tried to rewrite history claiming he hadn’t identified himself when that was the first thing he did,” Daniels said in a statement to NPR.
Jennings said he was doing a neighborly deed of watering his out-of-town neighbor’s flowers, per their request, on May 22 when a Childersburg police officer showed up.
“I’m supposed to be here. I’m Pastor Jennings. I live across the street,” Jennings told the officer in the body camera footage obtained by NPR.
“I’m looking out for their house while they’re gone, watering their flowers,” he said.
(Jay Reeves/AP)
Following their arrival, police arrested Jennings and placed him in the back of a police cruiser — later charging him with obstructing government operations, according to a criminal complaint.
“When they first pulled up, I already knew that it was gonna be something,” Jennings said in an interview with NPR.
Jennings recalls that when the police arrived at his neighbors’ house, he immediately noticed the officers’ behavior.
“[The officer] parked around back and walked around front. And immediately, you could tell by the tone of his voice I was already guilty,” he said.
In the 20-minute video, a Childersburg police officer approaches Jennings as he is seen on camera watering plants in a yard. Once the officer approaches Jennings and asks him what he is doing, he replies: “Watering flowers.”
The unidentified officer asks Jennings if a car parked in the neighbor’s driveway belongs to him. Jennings responds to the officer saying the car belongs to his neighbor.
Later in the video, the officer asks the pastor if he lives at the home, and he says to the officer that he does not.
The exchange between Jennings and the officer leads to shouting as Jennings explains to the officers that he has done nothing wrong. He tells the officers: “I told him I’m a pastor. … You want to lock me up, lock me up. … Lock me up and see what happens. I want you to.”
Jennings, a former police officer himself, is seen on video placed in handcuffs for not providing the officers with his identification.
The charges against Jennings were later dismissed by a municipal judge in June.
Throughout NPR’s multiple reports on this incident, the Childersburg Police Department has not responded to NPR’s request for comment.
Alabama law says that any officer “may stop any person abroad in a public place” if they suspect that the person is committing or has committed a felony or another public offense — and can demand the person’s name, address and an explanation of their actions.
However, Jennings’ attorneys emphasize in their statement that “Alabama’s Stop and Identify Law did not require Pastor Jennings … to identify himself because he was not in a public place.”
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.9(MDA2ODEyMDA3MDEyOTUxNTAzNTI4NWJlNw004))
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
