Pastor Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

MMA-trained pastor wards off ax-wielding man at church: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 15:59:06 +0000

Police in Antioch, California, arrested an axe-wielding burglar who allegedly broke into a church on Thanksgiving. (Antioch Police Department).

A California pastor received an unwelcomed guest for Thanksgiving in the form of an ax-wielding burglar.

The Antioch Police Department said in a Facebook post that the pastor of First Family Church went to check on an alarm early Thursday. As he arrived, he came across a burglary in progress.

More coverage from Law&Crime: Woman attacked dad with ice ax, said she ‘felt better’ after he ‘went limp’: Cops

“When the burglar saw his wicked deeds had been discovered he decided to fight with the pastor instead of repent,” cops wrote. “What he did not know was the pastor would win this battle of good and evil and he held down the perp until APD arrived and placed the man in custody.”

Pastor Nick Neves told NBC News when he saw the burglar, he ordered him to stop and said the cops were coming.

“I grabbed a hold of him and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church,” he said.

Neves, 46, has a mixed martial arts background with some training in jujitsu and kickboxing. That MMA experience helped as he was able to control the suspect without hurting him, the pastor said. After about 15 minutes of wrestling, the burglar ran out of gas and police arrived soon after.

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Pastor sues for discrimination after homeless housing flap

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 21:41:01 +0000

Background: Chris Avell’s church in Ohio, Dad’s Place./Inset: Chris Avell and his wife, Lisa Avell. Photos provided by First Liberty Institute.

A pastor slapped with over a dozen criminal zoning charges after he insisted on keeping his church doors open to the homeless has sued a city in Ohio alleging religious discrimination is behind efforts to shudder his sanctuary.

Pastor Chris Avell vows under his Christian faith he is bound to help the hungry and house those without homes at his 24-hour ministry in Bryan, Ohio, known as Dad’s Place.

But officials in the small city outside of Toledo say Dad’s Place turned into a hot spot for “transient” crime starting last spring and allege that Avell had failed for months to adhere to numerous local fire ordinances as well as residential-use rules for his property.

The first floor, Bryan officials said in a press release reviewed by Law&Crime, was not permitted for residential use; the “lives and safety of those in the building” were in potential jeopardy due to things like “improper installation of laundry facilities, inadequate or unsafe exit areas” and more, according to officials.

Avell was arraigned on Jan. 11 and pleaded not guilty. Eleven days later, the pastor decided he wouldn’t take the charges lying down and with his attorney and lawyers at the religious liberty group First Liberty Institute now aiding him, he filed a claim against Bryan officials urging a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring the mayor and his officers from enforcing city ordinances.

By doing this, it would allow those who need shelter and food in the cold Ohio winter to be protected and would, moreover, allow the church to continue “using the entirety of its property for religious purposes,” the motion requesting the restraining order argues.

City officials contend Avell has been warned repeatedly about the zoning violations but has ignored them and the offenses have steadily increased since he turned Dad’s Place into a 24/7 facility this past March.

In his lawsuit against the city, the pastor’s attorneys however say that there was a growing disdain toward religious establishments in downtown Bryan since 2020.

Until that year, according to Avell, “the city’s practice had been to provide police support to the sanctuary if it ever housed an unruly guest who refused to leave when asked to do so.”

Avell claims that changed “without warning” and the city “refused to continue providing police support, knowing that its refusal to do so would put the sanctuary in a dire financial state if it were forced to go through civil eviction proceedings every time it asked someone to leave.”

A local sheriff’s office ended up “filling the gap,” Avell’s lawsuit states, but as other ministries showed up, the city allegedly cracked down with ordinance enforcement and according to the pastor, ignored or denied his requests for a conditional use permit.

When he was told in November 2023 that he would have to cease-and-desist housing those who sought shelter at his ministry 24-7, Avell said he refused under a “religious obligation to care for the ‘least of these’ in its community.”

The city retaliated with its 18 separate criminal charges “for the work he performed on behalf of the Church,” the complaint states.

Avell also claims police visited the church “under false pretenses” including claims congregants were “panhandling or using illicit drugs.”

“On another occasion, two members of the City’s fire department and a police officer visited the Property and demanded entry because of the Property’s front door being locked and the public view into the Property being obstructed,” attorneys for Avell wrote in the 50-page filing.

Avell’s lawyers say their client didn’t learn he was charged until it was reported in the press in early December. He retained a lawyer for the church a day after Christmas, the lawsuit notes.

“Counsel for the City refused to agree to any kind of extension of the arraignment, even to allow for time to process pro hac vice applications, and repeatedly attempted to pressure Pastor Avell to appear for his arraignment without the presence of legal counsel,” the pastor alleges.

In a statement to NBC, Bryan City attorney Marc Fishel stood behind the mayor and local fire department for its enforcement efforts, noting there are private apartments one floor above Dad’s Place and that the alleged violations posed a “clear and immediate danger” to all inhabitants including visitors.

Bryan officials have defended claims from Avell that the city has ignored those in need of shelter year-round.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” a city spokesman told NBC this week, noting that there is another facility, the Sanctuary Homeless Shelter, “next to Dad’s Place” that “fully complies” with local rules.

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Pastor accused of pushing McDonald’s cook toward deep fryer

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 07:40:19 +0000

Dwayne Waden (Screenshot from CBS affiliate WFMY-TV/YouTube)

A North Carolina pastor allegedly tried shoving a McDonald’s cook into a fryer after the pastor’s wife, a manager in training, had called him saying she was being disrespected.

Dwayne Waden, 57, faces charges of assault in the attack on the 34-year-old cook.

The drama happened on Dec. 28 at the eatery at 2738 S. Main Street in High Point. Waden’s wife called him, saying she was being disrespected.

A police report obtained by Law&Crime alleging asphyxiation, that the victim was held down and was hit and struck, outlines the allegations.

Witnesses said the suspect came into the McDonald’s, walked around the counter, and placed his hands around the neck of the victim, pushing his head toward the deep fryer, the report said.

“The offender also punched the offender several times on the face, and did not stop until several employees pulled the offender off of the victim,” the document read. “The victim suffered a large contusion to the forehead and right eye, along with scratches on his neck.”

“I just got assaulted,” the victim, hospitalized after the attack, reportedly in a 911 call obtained by local Fox affiliate WGHP. “I was hit in my face several times, and I have asthma, so I’m having an asthma attack.”

Waden was arrested. Restaurant video captured the incident, police said.

Freed from custody on bond, Waden described to local CBS affiliate WFMY-TV how he said it went down after the worker came up from behind, “mouthing off at me and disrespecting my wife.”

“He got in my face, and when he got in my face, I pushed him and when I pushed him, he grabbed me,” Waden told the station. “So when he grabbed me, you know, we went to tussling and stuff of that nature and the floor was real slippery. So, you know, I kind of bear-hugged him, and when I bear-hugged him, he punched me in the back of my head. So when he punched me in the back of my head, I commenced the swinging.”

In a statement, McDonald’s said the pastor’s wife is no longer employed at the franchise, and “The safety and security of our employees and customers is our top priority.”

In an interview, Waden’s wife told WGHP that she had called her husband, a pastor at Elevated Life International Ministries, telling him her employees had been directing expletives at her. He arrived at the restaurant and told her to gather her belongings and clock out. He denied pushing the worker’s head into a fryer, the station reported.

Waden is set to appear in court on Jan. 22.

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