Posted on August 31, 2022

A Black Pastor Was Watering His Neighbor’s Flowers. Then the Police Showed Up

Jonathan Franklin, NPR, August 30, 2022

A Black pastor in Alabama says he was wrongfully arrested and charged with a crime while he was watering his neighbor’s flowers.

Michael Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Ala., says he was doing a neighborly deed of watering his out-of-town neighbor’s flowers, per their request, when a police officer showed up.

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Following their arrival, officers arrested Jennings and placed him in the back of a police cruiser — later charging him with obstructing government operations, according to a criminal complaint.

Body camera footage captured of Jennings’ arrest on May 22 was released by his attorneys last week, who are calling the situation unlawful.

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During the 20-minute video obtained by NPR, 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.”

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The officer says to Jennings that the police are responding to a call involving a “suspicious vehicle” and a suspicious person that’s “not supposed to be in the yard,” and the officer asks Jennings for his identification.

“Who’s saying that?” Jennings asks the officer.

“They called about it. … I don’t know,” the officer says to Jennings.

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.

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Under Alabama law, 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 — demanding the person’s name, address and explanation of actions.

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