Pastor Tony Spell was arrested this week on a charge of second-degree battery after an altercation outside the Life Tabernacle Church in Central. Authorities allege Spell assaulted a man during the confrontation, yet the full video of the incident shows the other man threw the first several punches. The other man was not arrested.

The headlines and the video tell only the last few minutes of a story that began six years ago, according to Pastor Spell, his attorney, Jeff Wittenbrink, and dozens of witnesses we spoke with at the church this week. They allege these neighbors, Scott Sherwin, his wife and his adult son, have subjected the congregation to years of harassment while they were entering the church grounds ranging from racial slurs aimed at small children to rape threats.

One incident they described a few weeks ago caused a major wreck with Sherwin allegedly cutting off the 16-year-old driver as he tried to enter the church parking lot in his truck, causing him to collide with oncoming traffic.

This week, Spell asserted, the threats became even more violent and personal while he was in front of the church changing the battery in one of the church buses.

“I’m going to rape your wife. I’m going to rape your grandchildren, and the next time you’re out of town, I’m going to kill them. Now what the F are you going to do about it,” Spell said of the specific threats from Sherwin’s 20-year-old adult son.

As seen on the full video, Spell then crossed the street where the man threw the first, second and third punch. The fight then ensued as people at the church called police. News reports have not disclosed the son’s name, only labeling the son the “victim.”

Spell is known worldwide for his refusal to close his church during then Governor John Bel Edwards’ COVID lockdowns. Law enforcement set up surveillance across the street in Sherwin’s home as seen in this interview by French television. Sherwin also says in the interview if he had a Kalashnikov rifle, he could solve the problem of these people attending church during COVID.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has since ruled that Edwards, other state officials and law enforcement violated Spell’s constitutional rights by arresting him dozens of times for conducting church services during the Edwards lockdown. Spell was cleared of all charges brought against him.

Spell maintains of this charge that he was defending himself, his family, and his congregation after years of escalating conflict, while his attorney argues the incident cannot be understood apart from the long history that preceded it.

“We’ve got a failure of law enforcement,” Wittenbrink said at a press conference after the pastor was bailed out of jail. “It may be that there is a gap in the law that maybe it’s perfectly permissible for someone to shout vulgarities and grab their body parts and flash you and make threats of bodily harm, or actually even threaten to kill somebody, maybe that’s perfectly legal. God knows that these poor folks over here have complained, many, many times who tried to get a meeting, and it looks like the meeting was just a little bit too late.”

The part-time Central Police Department claims they have only five incident reports over the years between the two parties, and only one against the Sherwins.

This video was shared as typical behavior from Sherwin directed at Shaye Spell, the pastor’s wife.

The church congregation is compiling information and video of the ongoing threats which we will share here when available.

The Louisiana legislature itself recognized the seriousness of this type of conduct earlier this year by creating the crime of obstructing the freedom of worship at a church or other place of worship through intimidation and threats. The law took effect May 22 upon Governor Jeff Landry’s signature. Wittenbrink said his team is evaluating its applicability to this case.

“The acts that they have done of intimidating people calling racial names, you know, it can’t feel safe for you for a person who’s trying to come here to go to church, maybe has their own trouble in their own neighborhood to come to what’s supposed to be a safe place, and to be called inflammatory names, to be called the N-word you know, I mean, it’s really intolerable,” Wittenbrink said. “Maybe that law will fit.”