East Baton Rouge Parish Pastor Tony Spell said he had a right to defend his family and church by fighting a neighbor who he claims threatened to kill and rape his family. Spell and his attorney blamed the Central Police Department for a failure to respond to numerous complaints made about the family, but Police Chief Roger Corcoran refutes the claim.
“We have no record of the Spells calling here once a week as we are accused of; and I would challenge him to give me dates and times. We will go back and look,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran says his department has record of only five incidents involving the Spells in the last four years, and only one of those was a complaint, which a detective followed up with.
“I don’t have the adequate manpower and detectives to do those investigations, so we transport those kinds of things to the Sheriff’s Office, and the Sheriff’s Office responds to that,” Corcoran explained.
Corcoran says even if the department had received several complaints, the Spells would have been redirected to the sheriff’s office.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office has charged Spell with second-degree battery, and Corcoran says he will not interfere with their investigation. Spell’s attorney alleged that Central Police were working with the neighbors against Spell. Corcoran denies the allegation.
“I have no problems with Mr. Spell. Mr. Spell is a citizen, he’s a pastor here, and I would protect him and my department would protect him just like we would protect anyone else out here,” Corcoran said.
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