Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers arrested Anthony Lee Gainey, Jr., 33, on Sunday inside Gainesville Christian Center during their worship, causing parishioners to call for the officers to leave and officers asking them to back up.
GPD’s arrest report shows that the department received a call from Dollar General, 1080 NE 16th Ave., at around noon. The cashier said that a man had left without paying for items and demanded $100 from the cash register, according to the report. The cashier said Gainey walked behind the register, causing her to fear for safety, and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
The employee described the suspect and where he was headed, and officers spotted Gainey—wearing the same white t-shirt, black head covering, green and pink shorts—a few blocks away.
The GPD officer said he exited his vehicle and ordered Gainey to stop and get on the ground, but he didn’t. After trying to grab hold of him, Gainey pulled away. The officer reports that Gainey turned around and said, “you want one” while taking a defensive stance.
Another officer arrived and cut Gainey off. The officer tried to restrain Gainey, but he attempted to pull free. The officer then tased Gainey. According to the report, the officer said any reasonable person would know they are under arrest at this point. But Gainey got up and ran away.
Gainey entered Gainesville Christian Center, about two blocks from where the encounter first started, and officers followed, arresting him on the ground a few yards into the church and disrupting the service.
A video on Facebook shows members of the church surrounding officers who were handcuffing Gainey and calling for them to leave at points.
On Tuesday morning, City Manager Cynthia Curry sent a city email to address the situation.
She said the pastor of Gainesville Christian Center, Pastor Lenard Gainey, called her about the incident just after it happened. Curry and GPD Chief Nelson Moya arrived to speak with the church members, the email said.
“I can only imagine how deeply this has affected the parishioners in attendance,” Curry said. “It is also extremely upsetting to me that this occurred in the presence of families and children. However, the first and foremost priority for the officers was the safety and security of the parishioners.”
Curry said GPD would conduct a full investigation into the arrest. She said it’s vital to get all the details from each perspective involved “to address the lingering concerns about this incident throughout the community.”
Anthony Gainey was charged with unarmed robbery, escape, petit theft, resisting an officer without violence and a probation violation. He’s on probation for willful child abuse.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with information from the arrest report sent from the Gainesville Police Department.
Instead of criticizing the police, the people at the church should have supported the police for doing their job and keeping their community safe. When I viewed the tape, there seemed to be a lot more parishioners yelling and creating chaos than the police. Maybe if they had backed away and the let law enforcement officers do their job, it would’ve been over sooner and with less drama. And maybe the parishioners could have used it as a teaching moment to those children that witnessed the arrest that stealing is one of the Ten Commandments and there are real life consequences to breaking the law.
I totally agree. Black people need to respect and help the police, not criticize them and create more problems. The fugitive needed to be captured. The church should definitely use that as a teaching lesson. Do bad things and pay the consequences.
Is the suspect any kin to the Pastor since last names are spelled the same?
Would the church members have tried to “protect” him from the police if they had known he was on probation for willful child abuse? Come on people, let the police do their job of protecting the community. Leave the judging to the courts.
By the way, is the pastor a personal friend or a relative of the city manager? Why did he call her, how did he have her phone number? I wonder if she would have come out there on a Sunday if it hadn’t been a black church.