Alabama Black Pastor Arrested While Watering Neighbor's Plants, Newly Released Bodycam Footage Shows

Newly released bodycam footage shows an Alabama Black pastor being arrested while watering his neighbor's flowers.

Michael Jennings' arrest was in May, but the clip surfaced Tuesday. Jennings, who preaches at the Vision of Abundant Life Ministries in Sylacauga in Childersburg, is now planning to file a lawsuit against the Childersburg Police Department for racially profiling him and violating his rights.

Jennings was watering his plants after finishing a Sunday service when he decided to tend to his neighbor's shrubs with the hose as the latter was out of town. Much to his surprise, officers showed up at his residence, and after a brief argument, handcuffed him and escorted to a patrol vehicle.

A next-door white neighbor allegedly called the cops after seeing Jennings' back and not realizing it was him.

After the arrest, Jennings declined to self-identify, arguing the officers racially profiled him, something which the cops, all of whom were white, strongly denied, according to Church Leaders.

A 20-minute police bodycam footage obtained by WBRC-TV shows Jennings laughing in disbelief as the officers confront him, and stating: "Y'all racially profiled me."

"We're not racially profiling you," the officer responded.

"Yes, you did," Jennings replied. The officer maintained that race didn't factor in the arrest. "No sir, no sir," the officer said. We're not about that okay?"

"I told you I was here watering flowers," Jennings said. "How do we know that's the truth," asked the officer. "I had the water hose in my hand! I was watering the flowers," said Jennings, laughing.

On seeing the officers detaining Jennings, his wife tried to identify him to the cops by showing his wallet, but Jennings urged her not to do so. Even as the neighbor, who called the cops, acknowledged it was her fault, the officers still charged Jennings with obstruction of government operations.

Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels told WBRC the police video "represents an abuse of police powers. It represents racial profiling and it represents law-enforcement officers intimidating a person who actually understands and knows their rights."

"These cases put law enforcement on notice and the country on notice that these types of interactions—thank God that Pastor Jennings had a cool head. He didn't get aggressive or defensive in a sense, and he complied when the officers grabbed him," Daniels added. "It could've went a different way. Pastor Jennings could very well not be here today."

Daniels said it would take long for Jennings to overcome the emotional trauma caused by the incident.