Honestly I thought the police did a good job. If the man had been a police officer in the past then he would know that the officers don’t o ow who called. Only that a call was made. He’s the one that got aggressive right from the start, which would naturally put the officers on edge. All he had to do was properly identify himself and the whole thing could have been avoided. He’s looking for a check. He wants to throw that pastor title around but is forgetting the part of the Bible where it talks against suing people.

It seems to me as small as Childersburg is that the local PD would’ve known this man. Lesson learned here is to get out and get to know all of your town or city. Especially the pastors that could potentially help with issues in the community. Protect and to serve means everyone.

A check was the last thing on his mind when he went over to water his friends flowers, amazing...

And if they had left and later found out he’d broken in the house, they’d be idiots and should be fired for leaving him there and not doing their job.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had some asshat try to do something as cool as pick up a water hose and try to play it off. He was looking for a reason to make it racial from the jump and it played well for his ass.

I would have released though after the neighbor confirmed he most likely was there for a reason and that she knew him. Depending on what I didn’t see

Agreed but when they approached him the word "lawsuit" came up pretty quickly. Look, are there bad cops? Absolutely. Are there bad pastors? Absolutely. The title "pastor" means absolutely nothing to me. In 20 years of construction, I've been screwed over by "pastors" more than any other group. Enough times so that I won't do jobs directly for churches anymore. I've had to threaten to have "pastors" arrested for theft, lack of payment, fraud, and have even walked away from jobs because one treated me like trash and I told him I didn't need the job that bad. There are a lot of good pastors out there but I'd be willing to bet for every one "good" one, there's three "bad" ones. Throwing a "pastor" title around doesn't impress me.

Yep. Theres his ID right there. If i run across the street to water some flowers im not gona have any ID on me either. Cops being dic*s as usual.

I'm the last one to fall for race baiting but I know for a fact I'd never be asked a single question if I were watering my neighbors yard. Police aren't entitled to your identity unless you're suspected of a crime or they suspect you are about to commit a crime. They are welcome to ask but it's your right to refuse and no one should face backslash for exercising their constitutional rights.

The woman that called it in told the police she made a mistake.

I don't think its their job to arrest folks who are innocent and haven't committed crimes. If they found evidence later that a crime had been committed, they have pictures/video of him and could arrest/detain/interview later

I read in another article that his kids (I assume grown) showed up later to confirm his identity too. The arrest was for obstruction of justice & charges were dropped a month later. Once identity was confirmend & it was a given he wasn't committing a crime there should have been no charges/no arrest.

Hi officer. My name is Pastor Blah Blah. I'm watering my neighbors plants. They are on vacation and asked me to take care of it for them. I live across the street. You can verify that. Here is my neighbors number. Please call them if you have any questions about my permission to be here.

Officer verifies he lives across the street. Officer calls the homeowners to verify they live there and he has permission to be there.

Everyone is happy and nobody is arrested or sued.

WTF is wrong with both sides of this issue? Both could easily have handled it better. Both were looking for trouble and acted inappropriately.

People are arseholes. That includes law enforcement and preachers. I'm not in a hurry to leave this world, but I'm damned sure not gonna miss it either.

Fattyfireplug, youre right, they were all being peckerheads. But when the neighbor said "oh yeah, he lives right there, hes friends with the homeowner", that should have ended it. He was identified at that point and no longer suspected of doing any wrong. Maybe he was being a peckerhead but thats not against the law. And at that point the officers knew he was just a peckerhead, not a criminal. They should have said "good day sir" and moved on along.

I'll tell ya what... if you can defend the cops in this one, you are choosing to turn a blind eye to injustice. For all the talk on this site regarding Constitutional freedoms, and the false belief that your "small town local cops wouldn't violate your rights", here is a great example of cops caring more about showing someone who has the power than they did serving or protecting anyone.

Agreed. However, one initiated this conflict and had the complete control to end it by saying "have a good day" and turning around and leaving. And it was not the preacher.

This is true,

Also the video is not from the beginning of the encounter. The news article I read said everything was fine until the supervisor showed up, and that probably the video you see, is the supervisor one. So the scenario is the pastor has already been nice to the other 2 LEO's and then the super shows up to show him who is boss.

Must not be much actual crime in Childersburg. Thats what ticks me off. Go somewhere and harass a criminal already.

This is old news.

You maybe missed the part where the person who called for a suspicious person, then saw the preacher and told the cops he lived across the street and was just watering flowers. That killed any reasonable suspicion.

This, and for future reference a 29 is a check for warrants. An officer usually asks for a 27 and 29 check on a person. 28 is on a vehicle. Pretty much anytime you have an interaction with the police they are going to run a 27/29 check, even if you don't know about it. Nowadays, they can do this themselves through the LETS system on a smartphone or a computer without going through Dispatch. Whether they do this or not, is not an option given the the person they are interacting with. Now the reason for said interaction is the only thing that can be questionable.

I never new that LEO's asked for an SSN.