Black Alabama Pastor, Arrested While Watering Neighbor’s Plants, Sues Police for Civil Rights Violations – By Marisa Sarnoff (Law and Crime) / Sept 12, 2022
A Black pastor in Alabama who was arrested and charged with obstructing a government operation while watering an out-of-town neighbor’s plants has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers.
Michael Jerome Jennings was arrested on May 22 as he watered the plants outside his neighbor’s home. According to the lawsuit, Jennings’ neighbors were away, and they had asked him to water his plants while they were gone.
Jennings’ lawyer, Harry Daniels, filed a lawsuit on Friday alleging that Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Alabama, was wrongfully arrested and charged. In addition to federal civil rights claims, Jennings is also bringing a state law claim of false arrest against all the defendants, the lawsuit says.
Apparently a neighbor, identified in the complaint only as Amanda, had called 911 and complained that an SUV parked on the neighbor’s property wasn’t supposed to be there, and neither was Jennings.
