Cops Zap Pastor Outside Texas

Church Police Say Pastor Interfered With Traffic Stop

ARELIS HERNANDEZ, Associated Press Writer

POSTED: Wednesday, 07/01/09

UPDATED: 10:16 am CDT 07/06/09

WEBSTER, Texas -- Police used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants last week after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot.

Congregants said they were in the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church for an early morning prayer Wednesday when pastor Jose Elias Moran went to assist the stopped driver, a church member, by asking the police what had happened.

An incident report on the Webster police department's Web site said Officer Raymond Berryman tried to calm Moran and arrest him.

But police said he pushed the officer, went inside the church and returned with 40 other congregants.

Webster Police Chief Ray Smiley told Houston TV station KPRC-TV that the driver did not have insurance nor a driver's license.

"The officer told him to back off several times," Smiley said. "In that situation, for the officer, he's got one gentleman to his left and one to his right. You never know what's going to happen, especially with what's happened in the last week or two."

Smiley was referring to the death of Houston police Officer Henry Canales. Canales was shot to death during an undercover operation in southwest Houston on June 24.

The congregants said Moran fled into the church when the officer grew angry and began to yell, and Moran's family disputes that the pastor touched the officer. Moran's son Miguel said 30 witnesses saw the officer turn aggressive and repeatedly kick the church door. Several members were hit with pepper spray and children were present, Miguel Moran said.

"They treated him as if he were a drug dealer or murderer, but he is a pastor that tries to help the community," Moran said. "The police always want to be right but they are not."

Moran's wife, Maria, said she tried to help her husband after he was hit with the Taser but police threatened to arrest her.

"My husband has a heart condition and with electrocution who knows what could've happened," Maria Moran said, referring to the Taser's electrical shock. "A pastor has to tend to his flock," she said. "That is all he was doing."

Speaking from a hospital bed Wednesday night, Moran told The Associated Press he planned to hire an attorney to file charges against the officer. He was held at the hospital overnight for additional tests.

Jose Moran has been charged with interfering with a public servant. Police said the church does not have a certificate of occupancy.

Webster is a suburb southeast of Houston.

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