A Black pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbors flowers filed a lawsuit Saturday against three police officers and the small, central Alabama city where he was charged, claiming his rights were violated by an unlawful and false arrest.
The federal lawsuit filed by Michael Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Alabama, claims his May 2022 arrest in Childersburg, Alabama led to ongoing emotional distress “with significant PTSD type symptoms,” including sadness, anxiety, stress, anger, depression, frustration, sleeplessness, nightmares and flashbacks.
“Pastor Jennings is also entitled to punitive damages,” the suit says, for “willful, malicious, wanton, reckless and fraudulent conduct towards (him).”
USA TODAY reached out to city officials for comment, but did not hear back immediately.
Lobster dispute:American lobster was added to Seafood Watch’s ‘red list.’ Maine lobstermen fight back
Police policy change:Columbus police change warrant policy after fatal police shooting of Donovan Lewis
‘I’m supposed to be here’
Two weeks ago, attorneys for Jennings released police body cam video of the May 22 arrest. The video shows shows two police officers approaching Jennings, who is watering flowers and plants outside a home in Childersburg.
When Officer Christopher Smith, one of the three officers named in the suit, asks Jennings what he is doing, he tells them he is watering flowers.
A 911 call had come in about a “younger Black male” and gold SUV being at the house while the homeowners were away, according to a call transcript obtained by The Associated Press.
In response to Smith’s statement about a 911 caller saying there was a person who “wasn’t supposed to be here” at the house, Jennings explained, “I’m supposed to be here. I’m Pastor Jennings. I live across the street.”
He continued: “I’m looking out for their house while they’re gone, watering their flowers.”
The conversation can be heard in the body camera video and is included in the lawsuit.
When Smith asks for identification, Jennings said he wasn’t going to provide that because he had done nothing wrong. In the lawsuit, Jennings said the arrest was unlawful because he was on private property and he “had a clearly established constitutional right under the Fourth Amendment to be secure in his person from unreasonable seizure and not to be arrested without arguable probable cause to do so.”
What’s everyone talking about?:Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
‘I’m here for accountability and … justice’
The video shows Jennings walking away from the officers, telling them he hasn’t done anything suspicious and saying he was going to “continue watering these flowers.”
Police tell him he could be charged with obstruction, and another officer, Justin Gable, puts Jennings in handcuffs, according to a police reported obtained by the AP.
A municipal judge dismissed the obstruction charge against Jennings in June, according to court documents provided to USA TODAY by Jennings’ attorneys.
During a press conference Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday, Jennings said, “I want to make crystal clear that I’m not anti-police. We need the police. Without the police we would have full chaos. But there are bad police and there are good police. There’s bad preachers and there are good preachers. But what they did that day, they did with impunity.”
The incident was “humiliating,” Jennings said, and left him feeling “dehumanized,”
But the lawsuit is his way of creating change, he said. “I’m not here for revenge,” Jennings said. “I’m here for accountability and for justice.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.