You usually wouldn’t expect clergymen to pack heat, but one pastor from Alabama begs to differ. He not only brandished a gun in front of a person, he also used it to pistol-whip the naysayer. The priest, however, felt bad about it and luckily came back to the man whom he pistol-whipped for a good, old-fashioned apology.
The bizarre incident took place in Mobile Street in Alabama near the Saraland’s Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church. 72-year-old Roy Powell is the pastor in question, and one fine morning, he was simply walking along the street’s sidewalk, heading to the post office, when an unnamed civilian allegedly bumped into him. The unnamed civilian even recalled that Pastor Powell said something to him:
“He said, ‘you was in my way, I’m walking down the sidewalk,’ and we had words back and forth,” claims the unnamed civilian, transcript courtesy of KMTV
So, after the argument, Pastor Powell left the scene to retrieve something and came back to the unnamed civilian now wielding a handgun. Luckily for the civilian, Powell merely used the gun to pistol-whip him and then fled afterward. Surprisingly enough, the court documents also stated Powell returned to him and apologized for what he did.
Still, that didn’t prevent the victim from pressing charges, leading to Powell’s arrest back on May 28, where he was charged with first-degree robbery. Even so, Powell was released on a $40,000 bond the next day, effectively turning the incident into a costly show of power (not necessarily holy power, though).
Apparently, the victim also didn’t know who Powell was, and it was his first time walking on Mobile Street, which is why he was shocked after learning that the person who pistol-whipped him was a man of the cloth, “So, when I heard that, I was like ‘wow.’ I don’t know what to say. Just wow,” says the victim.
No Comment From the Church
Ever since the incident reached public spotlight, various media outlets have reached out to Saraland’s Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church for a statement regarding Pastor Powell’s outburst. So far, the church hasn’t commented on the matter, nor have they revealed their plans for Pastor Powell.
Since then, people online have not only humorously mocked what the pistol-whipping Pastor Powell did but also made fun of the church and the Alabama town. Some, however, thought that the pastor should’ve gotten a heavier punishment instead of just first-degree robbery, since handguns are deadly weapons after all. It’s not even clear what the pastor tried to “steal” for the case to be considered a robbery.
“Who of us hasn’t pistol-whipped someone and felt bad about it later on that day?” states Sozadan
“Came back for the other cheek,” jokes mooseinhell
“Wouldn’t that, technically, be assault with a deadly weapon?” questions rotll
“Let he who has never pistol-whipped another man be the first to fire a hollow point bullet. Leviticus 12:13,” jokes Sariel007
