A warrant of arrest has been issued against Pastor Tony Spell, the leader of the Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after he allegedly backed his bus into a man protesting his congregation’s church services.
Spell has continued with services, defying stay at home orders issued by Governor John Bel Edwards. His actions seem to have also irked Trey Bennett, the man at the centre of the latest storm engulfing the minister, who has reportedly protested several times over the past few weeks.
Central Police in Baton Rouge issued the warrant on Monday based on video evidence from an incident on Sunday. Spell allegedly reversed the bus on the shoulder of the road outside his Life Tabernacle Church in Louisiana and nearly ran over Bennett.
“At first I thought he [Spell] was just turning around his bus and was going to pull away, but he just kept coming in reverse. I could see him [Spell] driving the bus.
“He was honking his horn loudly at me and making gestures suggesting he was yelling while he was driving. It didn’t seem real until it was physically in my face with a bus,” Bennett told WAFB.com.
Speaking to the same outlet, Spell denied Bennett’s allegations.
“I was pulling in from my bus route, picking up black children who haven’t eaten because of this sinister policy that has closed schools,” the pastor told the outlet. “I was going to approach this gentleman and ask him to leave.”
Despite Bennett’s claims that his protests were of a peaceful nature, Spell said that he, “shoots people obscene finger gestures and shouts vulgarities.”
And although one member of his congregation died from COVID-19 – a diagnosis Spell has denied – the religious leader went ahead with his service as usual on Sunday, the day of the incident with Bennett, and announced day one of the #PastorSpellStimulusChallenge.
