New video shows Black pastor in Alabama being arrested while watering neighbors' flowers
A report by NBC News on Thursday revealed a Black pastor in Childersburg, Ala. was arrested as he watered his neighbor's flowers. Officers from the Childersburg Police Department arrested Pastor Michael Jennings on May 22 for obstructing government operations after he refused to provide identification.
Video of the arrest shows released this week shows Jennings being a good neighbor by watering his neighbors' lawn when he is approached by the police. Another neighbor—a white woman—did not recognize the pastor when she first called the police about a suspicious person in the area.
The police asked Jennings what he was doing and he replied that he was "watering flowers." After the police ask him whose car was in the driveway, Jennings replied that it was his neighbors' vehicle. After being told that someone called the police, Jennings identified himself and noted that he lived across the street and was just taking care of his neighbors' flowers while they were out of town.
"I'm supposed to be here. I'm Pastor Jennings. I live across the street," said Jennings. "I'm looking out for they house while they gone," he said. He goes on to say they had no right to approach him and he did nothing wrong before the police tell him someone called them about a suspicious person.
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"I don't care who called y'all. You want to lock me up. Lock me up. I'm not showing y'all anything. I'm gonna continue watering these flowers. ... I don't care who called y'all. Lock me up and see what happens."
Jennings accused the officers of racially profiling him, which they denied. When the police asked him how they were supposed to know if he was telling the truth about watering the flowers, he replied "Because I had the water hose in my hand. I was watering the flowers."
The woman who called the police told the officers who Jennings was once she recognized him and also advised them he lived across the street, that he was friends with the neighbors and she was sorry for her mistake. They arrested him anyway.
"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," said the pastor's lawyer Harry M. Daniels said. "This was not only an unlawful arrest. It’s kidnapping. It’s irrational, irresponsible and illegal."
A judge dismissed the case in June. However, Bethaney Embry Jones, who is another of Jennings' lawyers, said it isn't enough to drop the charges.
"Chief McClelland and the Childersburg Police Department may think all they have to do is drop the charges and this all goes away," she said. "This was a crime, not a mistake. I would hope that the Childersburg Police Department would understand the difference."
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