Strange

Texas Police Taser Pastor Jose Moran, Pepper Spray Church Crowd

by Tina Kells | July 2, 2009 at 01:46 pm

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Texas police used a taser on Iglesias Profetica Peniel Church pastor Jose Moran after he interfered with what as a routine traffic stop. Pastor Jose Moran intervened while police were conducting a traffic stop in the parking lot of Iglesias Profetica Peniel Church which is undergoing a renovation and was not in use as a place of worship.

Pastor Moran approached the officer and started to yell, when the officer told him to back away he refused. The officer then attempted to place Pastor Moran under arrest but he ran inside the church. Around that same time a crowd of church members surrounded the officer.

To disperse the church crowd the officer let off pepper spray and then proceeded to try to arrest Pastor Moran again. By this time back up had arrived and as Jose Moran struggled to resist arrest the second officer used a taser to subdue him.

Police accounts and witness statements are not in agreement as to what really happened and an investigation is being launched to look at the incident.

Moran identified himself as the church's pastor and began yelling at the officer, police said.

The officer told Moran to leave several times, but Moran did not, police said. The officer then tried to arrest him. But Moran pushed the officer and ran into the church building, police said.

Moran's son said after his father asked the officer if he could help, the officer began yelling. The son said his father went back inside the church.

The officer followed him and kicked in the church door, he said. The pastor came outside, and a second officer used his Taser twice on the pastor, the younger Moran said.

The son's account differs from the police version of events. Police said Moran emerged from the church building with dozens of other people who subsequently surrounded the officer.

The officer used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, the statement said.

Police said Moran pushed a second officer, who had arrived for backup, when the officer was trying to arrest him. The officer used a Taser to subdue him, police said.