New Haven, USA - A former New Haven minister who said he was upholding God's law when he beat two children with a belt because they disobeyed their mother is suing the police officers who arrested him.
The Rev. Walter Oliver had been charged with assault and risk-of-injury charges in 2001, but a Superior Court jury acquitted him of the charges three years ago.
The lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court claims false arrest, malicious prosecution and the violation of his constitutional right to exercise religion.
Oliver's attorney, Norm Pattis, argues in the lawsuit that the police warrant failed to acknowledge that Oliver's administration of corporal punishment to disobedient children, in the eyes of many people, is proper and an accepted religious practice.
"A bunch of politically correct goons have decided that you can't spank a child without going to jail," Pattis said Friday.
Police got involved when a pair of boys from West Haven, then 11 and 12, reported the spankings to the Department of Children and Families. The corporal punishment happened in New Haven, so the case was transferred here.
The lawsuit names New Haven Detective Benjamin Alma and West Haven Detective Marvin Kasowitz as defendants.
It took a six-member jury about 1 1/2 hours on Nov. 10, 2003 to find Oliver not guilty of two counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of third-degree assault for hitting the boys.
Oliver acknowledged he administered what he calls "holy spankings," with the permission of the boys' mother, acting under biblical advice.
He beat his own sons, he said, and they grew up to be productive members of society.
"If you beat him, he will not die, but you will save his soul from hell," Oliver said, quoting from the book of Proverbs.