Originally published on December 27, 2020 4:00 am
Since arriving as pastor of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2017, Rev. Dwayne Gary has been stopped by Glencoe, Ill. police four times.
The 51-year-old pastor was not cited in any of his encounters with local police, which included being stopped for expired registration (his plates were current); talking on his cellphone while driving (it was in his cup holder, he says); a burned-out headlight (he got that fixed); and walking his dog, Comet, down a public sidewalk on the way home to the parsonage, his home near the church.
The officer "pulls up, rolls down his window and says, 'Where you headed?' " Gary recalls. "If that was the welcoming message for me moving into the area, it opened up my eyes."