Do other criminals have the option to avoid the spectacle of arrest and turn themselves in? Why does Browne think he is so special to have deserved such treatment? I am sure that everyone who has to go through the humiliation of arrest would rather just walk into their local police station but that is not the way it usually goes. Browne is trying to paint the law enforcement as the bad guys for simply doing their job and following protocol. As for the press conference, when you arrest a celebrity, you expect to get inundated with press requests so holding the conference only makes sense. If he truly had the utmost respect for law enforcement, he would not have violated the law and would not now be trying to make them look bad and play the victim.
A statement was also made that I was "reckless" for holding the church service. With all due respect to Sheriff Chronister, the church went above and beyond the requirements for secular businesses to protect the health and well-being of the people who attended. None of this seems to have been taken into consideration but appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to hyped-up reports by media (who were not in the building at any time). A statement was also made that we ignored repeated warnings. This is patently untrue! On Thursday, Sheriff Chronister spoke to some of our staff by speaker phone. I was also present. After we told Sheriff Chronister that we were enforcing 6-foot social distancing, had installed over $100,000 of high-grade hospital air purifiers and were taking other actions to protect the health of anyone who attended, he said the church could operate on Sunday, and that he had no intention to close the church or arrest anyone. The order then became effective on Friday night at 10 p.m." -- Rodney Howard-Browne
For someone who claims to respect law enforcement and loves the Constitution, Browne sure seems to get very confused. It is not the responsibility of law enforcement to take into consideration the reasons why Howard-Browne felt he could violate the law. I will let the Sherriff defend against the accusation of misspeaking but follow what Browne's logic is here. On Thursday, the Sherriff tells him that he does not intend to close them down. Then the order comes out the next day banning public events. Browne goes ahead and defies the order anyway. The chaos of COVID has led to changes from a minute to minute basis let alone day to day. Bottom line here is Browne admits he knew Friday at 10 pm to not holds service Sunday and did anyway.
It should also be pointed out here that Browne used Sunday to sermonize against the government. He claimed the virus was cooked up as an idea at a Bill Gates Foundation event in 2018 and it was decided to release it at the World Economic Form in Davos this year. He constantly referred to it as a "phantom virus" and the reports were that he had the congregants shake each other's hands, as is Christian church tradition.
"The church took extra precautions to more than comply with the Executive Order, which included the following:
--Any persons who was concerned for their health, or who had physical symptoms of any kind, were encouraged to stay home.
--Every person who entered the church received hand sanitizer.
--All the staff wore gloves.
