Unless he’s checking his mailbox, Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been ordered not to go any closer than 50 yards to the home of a 20-year-old neighbor he beat up last month for allegedly threatening to rape and murder his family and harm his congregation.
The order, handed down last Friday, according to The Advocate, bars Spell from contacting the man or his family electronically or directly.
“Mr. Spell may walk over and check his mailbox; other than checking his mailbox, he is to be 50 yards away from the protected person’s property,” the order states.
Spell, 48, was arrested and charged with second-degree battery last month after he was recorded in a nearly one-minute video reacting to 20-year-old neighbor Luke Sherwin, who swung at him first at around 11 a.m. on Hooper Road near his church on June 23. The video shows Spell raining down multiple blows to the man’s head and face, along with at least one kick.
Since the incident, Spell has argued that his actions need no repentance. In an address to his congregation shortly after he was released from the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on a $25,000 bond, he stated that he was acting in self-defense after years of provocation.
“While this individual is walking up and down the shoulder of the road, he’s shouting vulgarities, profanities, and very nasty words towards my person, or myself. And while I’m working on this particular bus, he said, Tony, I’m quoting him. He said, ‘Tony, I’m gonna rape your wife. I’m gonna rape all of your grandchildren.’ And he said, ‘The next time you go out of town, I’m going to kill them. And what the F are you going to do about it?’” Spell recalled, describing the moments before he administered the beatdown.
Spell explained that his racially diverse church, which has members with roots from 27 countries, as well as recovering addicts, was also frequently being attacked with slurs.
“They are constantly stalked by these individuals across the street. They are constantly intimidated with threats of bodily harm. There’s not a person that’s come to this church that’s standing behind me in this meeting today who hasn’t been called the racial slur of the N-word. Their children have been screamed at and shouted at with vulgarities,” Spell said at a press conference. “As a shepherd, I have not allowed the sheep to attack the wolves for what was said to them. … I can’t allow a man to rape my wife. I can’t allow a man to rape my grandchildren. I will not allow a man to murder my children when I’m gone.”
Spell said he and his church reached out to the Central Police Department in Baton Rouge several times for help, but the department failed to investigate the complaints. The police have, however, refuted that claim.
“Allegations that the Central Police Department has failed to investigate complaints lodged by Pastor or Mrs. Spell are untrue. Our records reflect only 5 incidents involving Pastor or Mrs. Spell in the past 4 years, and only one of those involved a complaint against their neighbors,” Roger L. Corcoran, chief of the Central Police Department, said in a statement.
“All calls to our department are recorded, and all persons who visit our department to make in-person complaints are captured on video. If dates and times [of] complaints were allegedly made, are provided to me, I will order an audit of our systems to investigate any claim of a failure to investigate.”
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