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Ala. pastor files lawsuit against police who arrested him while watering his neighbors’ flowers

Michael Jennings, the pastor arrested while watering his neighbor’s flowers, has filed a federal lawsuit against the police officers involved and the city of Childersburg.

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Michael Jennings: Pastor sues Childersburg police and city
Michael Jennings (Video Screenshot)

Michael Jennings, the pastor arrested while watering his neighbor’s flowers, has filed a federal lawsuit against the police officers involved and the city of Childersburg.

Michael Jennings files lawsuit

Jennings, pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Ala., has retained civil rights attorney, Harry Daniels, and attorneys Bethaney Embry Jones, Joi Travis and Roderick Van Daniels. They held 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 from emotional distress and “significant PTSD type symptoms” that include nightmares and flashbacks.

According to reports, Jennings 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.

Body camera video

Jennings said he was 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.

“I’m looking out for their house while they’re gone, watering their flowers,” he said.

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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.

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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 then 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.

Charges against Jennings were later dismissed by a judge in June.


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Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a local Black newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to now broaden into a recognized Black online media outlet. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.

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Crime & Justice

New Jersey detective shot and killed after suspects kicked in front door of her home

Monica Mosley, a revered detective in South New Jersey, was shot and killed during a home invasion at her residence, authorities said.

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Monica Mosley
Det. Sgt. Monica Mosley is seen in a photo released by the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office.

Monica Mosley, a revered detective in South New Jersey, was shot and killed during a home invasion at her residence, authorities said.

New Jersey detective Monica Mosley killed

Detective Sgt. Monica Mosley, with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, was fatally shot at her home in Bridgeton on Tuesday night, according to police.

The incident

Bridgeton Police responded to the home around 10:30 p.m. for a report of “several subjects kicking in a front door at a residence,” the Bridgeton Police Department said in a press release.

Mosley, 51, died at the scene, police said.

An individual who had been treated for a gunshot wound at a nearby hospital was detained for questioning in connection with the incident, police said. No additional information on the individual was released.

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Law enforcement career

Mosley began her career in 2006 at the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office as a paralegal specialist. She then became a county detective in 2009, “where she served our community with honor, dignity and respect before her untimely passing,” Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a statement.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy expressed he was “outraged and heartbroken by the murder” of Mosley.

“As a detective with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Sgt. Mosley served her community with distinction, working every day to ensure the safety and well-being of the people of Cumberland County,” he said in a statement. “This act of violence impacts our entire law enforcement community and all of New Jersey.”

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No arrests have been made or charges filed in the case, police said.

Multiple agencies are investigating the deadly shooting, including the State Police Major Crime Bureau, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bridgeton Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau.


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Police

Phoenix police officers punch, taser deaf Black man with cerebral palsy under false claims

A Black man, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, is facing felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges after he was repeatedly punched and tasered by a pair of Phoenix police officers.

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Tyron McAlpin deaf Black man tased and punched by Phoenix police officers
Screenshot via ABC15 Arizona

Update October 19: All charges have been dismissed against Tyron McAlpin.

Original story

Tyron McAlpin, a Black man, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, is facing felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges after he was repeatedly punched and tasered by a pair of Phoenix police officers.

Tyron McAlpin Phoenix deaf Black man police incident

Acting on false claims from a white man under investigation, body camera video recently released to the public shows officers unexpectedly go after McAlpin, punch him in the head at least 10 times, Taser him four times, and wrap their arms around his neck.

Internal investigation

Despite the incident August 19 being the subject of an internal investigation, Phoenix police and Maricopa County prosecutors continue to pursue a criminal case against McAlpin.

Body camera video of Tyron McAlpin police incident

According to ABC15, Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nick Saccone found there was probable cause for his Aug. 19, 2024, arrest, stating McAlpin fought officers and didn’t comply.

Video of the incident shows officers immediately getting out of their vehicle and attacking McAlpin as he was walking.

McAlpin allegedly attempted to defend himself and fight back against the officers as he was being attacked. As a result, he was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest, according to ABC15 Arizona.

According to the police report, McAlpin was arrested by Officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue.

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Claims are false says attorneys

McAlpin’s attorneys said body camera video and surveillance footage show the officers’ claims are false and said there’s an obvious explanation for why he couldn’t comply.

“The answer is easy. He’s deaf. He couldn’t understand what they were doing. And he had done nothing wrong,” Showalter told ABC15 Arizona.

“Everything I see in that video is Tyron just trying to avoid being harmed by these officers and that only makes them increase the escalation and the violence that they’re using.”

Tyron McAlpin’s arrest

The arrest stems from a morning call from Circle K convenience store employees who reported that a white man was causing problems and wouldn’t leave the store, records show.

While being trespassed, the man claimed he was assaulted by a Black man and pointed across the street at McAlpin.

Officers Harris and Sue never confirmed the validity of the man’s claims and left him to go after McAlpin.

ABC15 Arizona reports the man’s assault claim was later refuted by store employees and surveillance video, records show.

After reportedly handcuffing McAlpin, his wife arrived at the arrest and told the officers that he was deaf and had cerebral palsy, according to body camera footage. None of the officers at the scene included any information about McAplin’s disabilities.

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McAlpin’s initial pretrial conference is scheduled for November 13, and his trial is scheduled for late February.


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Police

Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend caused her death, dismisses major charges against former Louisville officers

U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a warrant.

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Kenneth Walker lawsuit settled
Breonna Taylor/Kenneth Walker

A federal judge has ruled that Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend was responsible for the beloved EMT’s death.

From the case, the judge also dismissed major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her.

Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s death was not from warrant

U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a warrant.

Charges dismissed

Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were filed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the botched raid, of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a precarious situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.

But Simpson wrote in the Aug 27 Tuesday ruling that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.

The judge did not dismiss the conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.

Botched raid

When police executed a drug warrant and broke down Taylor’s door in March 2020, Walker fired a shot that struck an officer in the leg. Walker said he believed an intruder was bursting in. Officers returned fire, striking and killing 26-year-old Taylor in her hallway.

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Simpson resolved that Walker’s “conduct became the proximate, or legal, cause of Taylor’s death.”

“While the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set off a series of events that ended in Taylor’s death, it also alleges that (Walker) disrupted those events when he decided to open fire” on the police, Simpson wrote.

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend lawsuit

Walker was initially arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer.

The charge was later dismissed after his attorneys successfully argued Walker didn’t know he was firing at police.

He later filed a federal lawsuit against the city and police and received a $2 million settlement.

CBS reports a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to the news outlet that the department is reviewing the judge’s decision and assessing next steps.

 

 


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