Pastor Tasered after reported assaults, chase

A Spokane pastor was Tasered after allegedly assaulting several people at a restaurant, ramming a patrol car at another and then leading officers on a chase in a silver Corvette.

The Rev. Herman Lewis, 49, was booked into jail Monday, charged with unlawful imprisonment and first- and second-degree assault.

Lewis since late last year has been pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church at 3909 W. Rowan Ave. in northwest Spokane.

The altercation began with a report of a possible kidnapping and assault at the Shari’s Restaurant at Indiana and Monroe Street, said Spokane police Officer Jennifer DeRuwe.

DeRuwe said one female employee was restrained, another tried to help and then a male customer reportedly stepped in, and Lewis allegedly assaulted him. A Shari’s employee called police.

Lewis then reportedly moved across Monroe Street to a McDonald’s parking lot where police say he rammed a patrol car as an officer attempted to corner him in a parking space.

One officer was reaching into the car when Lewis started it, police said. The officer was hit with the open driver side door and briefly dragged across the parking lot, but sustained only minor injuries.

“The officers didn’t realize he could start it without the key in the ignition,” DeRuwe said.

Police say Lewis drove east on Indiana at about 40 mph. They used a spike strip to slow him down before he encountered traffic at a red light at Division Street.

Officers asked drivers in front of the Corvette to remain in place so he couldn’t escape.

DeRuwe said officers reported that Lewis was confrontational when they approached him, refusing to get out of the Corvette.

“He had already shown his total disregard for public safety,” said DeRuwe of the police decision to Taser the man.

Witnesses said they heard Lewis talking about Jesus.

“He was yelling, ‘I’m God. You can’t do anything to me,’ ” said Maurice Frye, who witnessed the confrontation from a nearby business. “He would not let go of the steering wheel.”

Lewis was taken to the hospital to be examined for injuries and undergo a mental health evaluation before he was booked into jail.

A woman and child rushed to the scene as police were investigating and were interviewed by officers, but the woman said she didn’t want to answer any questions.

Eastbound Indiana was closed for about an hour between Atlantic and Division streets as police finished investigating and the Corvette was towed away.

The 2005 Corvette was borrowed from Camp Chevrolet over the weekend on a kind of extended test drive with the intent to purchase it.

Shari’s was locked about 9:30 a.m., with a sign on the door saying it would be closed for a short time. It reopened later in the morning.

The two Shari’s employees were examined at a hospital and released without serious injuries, said David Archer, a corporate spokesman.

Lewis “has been in here quite a few times, but today he acted very differently than he ever has,” Archer said.

Lewis recently told the Fig Tree newspaper that he was called to the ministry at the age of 16 and that he left an $80,000 a year job managing a Holiday Inn in Seattle to become Morning Star Baptist Church’s senior pastor last year.

The church recently moved to its present location, in part to be accessible to members using wheelchairs.

“I heard God calling me to move the church, not remodel or rebuild the former building,” Lewis told a reporter in a story reprinted in March in The Spokesman-Review.

Lewis attended Lamar University, playing a variety of sports before becoming a pastor at his first church in Beaumont, Texas.