quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
"Spell, 48, was arrested and charged with second-degree battery on Tuesday after he was recorded in a nearly one-minute video reacting to a 20-year-old neighbor who swung at him first"

Caught my eye too. Sounds like proactive defense, regardless if scripture is used to justify the action.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
"Spell, 48, was arrested and charged with second-degree battery on Tuesday after he was recorded in a nearly one-minute video reacting to a 20-year-old neighbor who swung at him first"

Caught my eye too. Sounds like proactive defense, regardless if scripture is used to justify the action.

Yeah, but from the video it looks like the pastor came running across the street to confront the guy. Kinda hard to claim self defense in court when you do that. Again...not saying the douchebag didn't deserve it, but you gotta realize that when you do something like that you're probably going to face charges.

I know, that statement is standing alone like a microphone in the middle of a cornfield.

On the other hand, news-spinner programs have been known to edit videos to promote their agenda.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RichardC,

Question for Baton Rouge residents. Here in Texas, it's normal for a church to have off-duty uniformed and nonuniformed law enforcement on-site for Sunday and Wednesday services. Is that normal for Baton Rouge too?

The reason I ask is the pastor claims he filed complaints with the police and nothing happened. The off-duty police officers are much more likely to insure complaints about violent threats are actually investigated and I imagine they do threat assessments as well.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Yeah, but from the video it looks like the pastor came running across the street to confront the guy. Kinda hard to claim self defense in court when you do that. Again...not saying the douchebag didn't deserve it, but you gotta realize that when you do something like that you're probably going to face charges.

Just like the Karmelo Anthony case, the pastor can't initiate physical confrontation and then claim self-defense.

Was the pastor in a place he wasn't supposed to be? No.

Did the pastor start the verbal confrontation? No.

It boils down to who got physical first. The guy started the confrontation and if the guy took a swing at the pastor, then the pastor has the right to defend himself.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Was the pastor in a place he wasn't supposed to be? No.

Did the pastor start the verbal confrontation? No.

It boils down to who got physical first. The guy started the confrontation and if the guy took a swing at the pastor, then the pastor has the right to defend himself.

Rewatch the video and reread the interview. He was working on church property on one of the church buses. He ran across the street (i.e. off church property) to initiate the physical confrontation.

The video in the first post is edited and doesn't show who swung first.

He's not allowed to run off church property? That's not initiating a physical confrontation, nor is standing near someone, yelling at someone, or confronting someone threatening to rape your wife, children, grandchildren.

If he ran ran up to the guy and started pummeling him, then he didn't have the right to do that. If he ran up to the guy, stopped, and the guy took a swing at him, then pummeling the guy is fine. The video in the first post doesn't show what happened.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
"Spell, 48, was arrested and charged with second-degree battery on Tuesday after he was recorded in a nearly one-minute video reacting to a 20-year-old neighbor who swung at him first"

Caught my eye too. Sounds like proactive defense, regardless if scripture is used to justify the action.

Yeah, but from the video it looks like the pastor came running across the street to confront the guy. Kinda hard to claim self defense in court when you do that. Again...not saying the douchebag didn't deserve it, but you gotta realize that when you do something like that you're probably going to face charges.

It was two douchebags. Spell and the other one. I think Spell was wanting it to happen. He hates the Police Chief and the Chief is running for re-election. Spell has a big annual deal at the Church next week and people come from all over for it. This will bring more people that means more money. People will be voting against the Police Chief. Spell knew it would all be on video and that got more publicity means more people showing up at his Church and more money.

I have two friends that grew up with Spell. Both said he would do anything and he's got the money now to do it.

I was reported that he was working on one of is busses when the guy started hollering at him. He has about 35 busses. The bus lot is over a 100 yards from where the fight was. Spell crossed a 4 land divided state highway to get to him.

I can see it going either way…

The punk instigated a verbal altercation, no question there. Pastor “ran” across to “confront” him, but was he running in a rush to escalate, or just running to cross the lanes between cars? Middle of the road he slows his pace, then speeds up slightly. Once he arrives at the other side he slows up to a normal walk. Then you see a car go by behind him so maybe the short speed burst was just to get out of the car’s way?

Maybe was just going to try and talk to the guy? He didn’t run in full speed and start swinging as some reports are making it sound.

As he gets near the guy he comes to a full stop and there is brief moment he raises his open hand, palm forward. No audio, but could he be saying “Hey, I just want to talk” to him? Then the punk throws the first swing and it was game on.


Given the history between them and the full video, I think I’d have a hard time saying “guilty”. If preacher came in full speed and immediately starting swinging, I could probably reach a “guilty” decision, but with the back story between them I might just go the nullification route.



Anyway, as usual the internet does not disappoint…

I take a man at his word. If it's true that he threatened to rape and kill his family, then he's fortunate to still be alive.

quote:

I take a man at his word. If it's true that he threatened to rape and kill his family, then he's fortunate to still be alive.

I wonder if he made those same statements to an off-duty police officer standing across the street, would the officer cross the street to confront him, or simply turn the other cheek and ignore it?

The reality is that if he would have "deserved" what he got from the cop, then he also "deserved" what he got from the pastor.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I take a man at his word. If it's true that he threatened to rape and kill his family, then he's fortunate to still be alive.

I wonder if he made those same statements to an off-duty police officer standing across the street, would the officer cross the street to confront him, or simply turn the other cheek and ignore it?

The reality is that if he would have "deserved" what he got from the cop, then he also "deserved" what he got from the pastor.

People have said that sort of thing to me plenty of times, and I've walked away. Or calmly tacked on an intimidation charge, depending upon the circumstances and what was actually said. I didn't lose my temper or batter them. Part of doing my job...or simply being a mature adult...is having the ability to control your temper and not get goaded into an unnecessary physical conflict.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I take a man at his word. If it's true that he threatened to rape and kill his family, then he's fortunate to still be alive.

I wonder if he made those same statements to an off-duty police officer standing across the street, would the officer cross the street to confront him, or simply turn the other cheek and ignore it?

The reality is that if he would have "deserved" what he got from the cop, then he also "deserved" what he got from the pastor.

People have said that sort of thing to me plenty of times, and I've walked away. Or calmly tacked on an intimidation charge, depending upon the circumstances and what was actually said. I didn't lose my temper or batter them. Part of doing my job...or simply being a mature adult...is having the ability to control your temper and not get goaded into an unnecessary physical conflict.

So you've walked away from somebody standing outside your house, this is his neighbor, threatening to rape and kill your family and you wouldn't deal with it? He has had an ongoing issue with this neighbor since COVID. And it has escalated to the guy threatening to rape and murder his family. I take that as a credible threat.

Maybe so, but there's no imminence there. If he comes across the street and tries to actually do it, then you've got an argument for self-defense. But barring that, record it, call the cops, let the law deal with it. Going over there isn't going to result in anything good, unless you've weighed the cost and decided that the legal consequences are worth what you're about to do. Because make no mistake, there will be legal consequences.

I get it...there's emotional satisfaction in watching a loud-mouthed douchebag get thumped. But like Charlie12 (who appears to be local and likely has more inside knowledge than what it being reported in the news) pointed out, there's two sides to every one of these stories, and just because a douchebag got thumped doesn't mean the thumper isn't a douchebag too.

And yes, I've had people threaten me, threaten my family, say all kinds of despicable things. It's just words, and it's a regular part of the job. Letting it get under your skin and reacting to it just gives them what they want. They're trying to get me to do something that will serve their purposes in court or help them win the trailer-trash lottery, and I'm not willing to give them the satisfaction of reacting to it.

I went to LSU and lived in Baton Rouge from 1992-99. It's been a long time, but back then I always had the feeling that the local police were on our side, and trashy scumbags harassing normal people would elicit a swift and forceful response on our behalf from the police. We had plenty of douchebags in Baton Rouge back then, but it seemed they felt compelled to tread lightly, come at you when they had numbers and no one else was looking, or act by stealth under cover of darkness. Maybe things have changed; this beatdown recipient seemed to think he was free to do anything he liked without consequences.