NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- A New Castle pastor is accused of threatening to shoot children and trying to draw a gun on officers who came to arrest him – both charges he adamantly denies.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday, several children told their parents they were riding their bikes near Calvary Baptist Church on Monday afternoon when a man in a red car threatened them.
The children said the male subject "yelled at them and told them that if they didn't get away from the church, he was going to shoot them." The subject then reportedly lifted his shirt, exposing the handle of a pistol in his waistband.
Police subsequently learned the man was Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Bobby Slagle.
According to the affidavit, an officer visited Slagle's home, where he said he was upset at recent vandalism at his church and reportedly admitted that he told the children that "if they did not get off his property he was going to shoot them."
Slagle reportedly then raised his shirt in a "very fast motion" and showed the officer the gun that was located in the front of his waist band.
"Mr. Slagle then stated that he had a lifetime carry permit and it was his right to tell the kids what he did," the officer wrote in his report. "I then advised him that even though he had a carry permit, it did not give him the right to intimidate the children with shooting them or anything else."
Following the conversation, police decided to take Slagle into custody on a preliminary charge of intimidation. They asked him to come to the church to look at something for them, and when he did two officers grabbed him by the arms and advised him that he was being placed under arrest.
According to police, Slagle then tried "to pull his right arm towards the front of his body attempting to lift his shirt while doing so … other officers at the scene noticed as his was raising, they noticed the handle of a handgun in his waistband and also observed him reaching for his gun."
The gun was later identified as a .38-caliber revolver with four rounds inside. A report included in the affidavit includes a comment that Slagle has reportedly "threatened to shoot law enforcement" in the past.
Slagle was taken to the Henry County Jail on charges of intimidation and resisting law enforcement.
On Friday, Slagle spoke with RTV6 by phone and denied ever having threatened to shoot children or resisting police.
"I didn't flash no gun at them," he said. "I just pulled my shirt up and showed [the gun] to them and told them to stay off the church parking lot."
Slagle also said police took "five or six" guns from his house following his arrest, including a rifle, shotgun and .45-caliber handgun.
"They just accuse me of things," Slagle said. "But I didn't do that."
Slagle says he has contacted a lawyer and is considering a civil rights lawsuit against the city of New Castle.
