Photo: Getty Images
An Alabama pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbor's flowers can proceed with his lawsuit against the city of Childersburg and police, an appeals court ruled per AL.com.
Michael Jennings, pastor of Vision of Abundant Life Ministries in Sylacauga, was detained and booked into Talladega County Jail in May 2022 after a neighbor who deemed him "suspicious" called the police as he was watering flowers at another neighbor's house, who was out of town.
Viral video of the incident shows police handcuffing the Alabama pastor in his neighbor's yard with a water hose in hand despite Jennings explaining the situation to officers and another owner of a nearby home vouching for him.
Jennings said he verbally identified himself to police during the incident, but officers didn't believe him. The pastor didn't have physical identification with him at the time of the encounter and refused to retrieve it because he had permission from the owners to be on the property.
Jennings was arrested on a charge of obstructing government operations. After he was taken into custody, Jennings was released on a $500 bail and his charges were dismissed the following month.
The pastor filed a federal lawsuit in September 2022, alleging police officers and the city violated his constitutional rights through unlawful arrest. The suit was dismissed in December 2023, with Chief U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor ruling that the officers and the city had qualified immunity that protected them from legal liability.
However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's decision to dismiss the case, saying officers “lacked even arguable probable cause” to arrest Jennings.
“Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment on Jennings’ unlawful arrest claim because the officers are not entitled to qualified immunity,” the judges wrote in the decision earlier this month.
Harry Daniels, an attorney representing Jennings, applauded the court's decision to allow Jennings to resume his suit.
“This is a win for Pastor Jennings and a win for justice,” Daniels said. “The video speaks for itself. These officers decided they were going to arrest Pastor Jennings without probable cause less than five minutes after they pulled up and then tried to rewrite history claiming he hadn’t identified himself when that was the first thing he did.”
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