Seth Udinski, FISM News
North Carolina officials are investigating the death of a former youth pastor who was killed while in police custody earlier this month, drawing sobering comparisons to the May 2020 death of George Floyd.
On June 15, 35-year-old Christopher Hensley was arrested outside an apartment complex in North Carolina on charges of possession of drugs and a domestic disturbance. It is unclear at this point if those charges were validated.
Sources indicate that a struggle broke out between Hensley and law enforcement, during which officers pinned Hensley to the ground while attempting to place him under arrest. Sources also claim that Hensley, like Floyd, could not breathe and repeatedly told law enforcement that he was struggling for breath.
Video evidence shows a six-minute struggle between Hensley and law enforcement. Several minutes into the video, Hensley appears to lose consciousness and go limp. He would die in police custody.
*Please view with caution, as this video is disturbing.*
#PoliceReformNOW 💔🇺🇸
This is the recording of the death of Christopher Robert Hensley at the hands of the police in Fletcher, NC on June 15, 2022.
https://t.co/ICHJsjVRZw— Expand the Court 🇺🇸 (@IndiscreetMuse) June 20, 2022
Many are outraged at the apparent injustice at the hands of the Fletcher, Norther Carolina police officers who restrained Hensley. Many more are simply grieved at losing a former pastor and a father of two young children.
In life, Hensley served a youth pastor for over a year at Rapha House Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Pastor Greg Lewis, who served with Hensley at Rapha House, expressed his love for his former associate after the incident, saying, “I loved Chris. As a pastor with a pastor’s heart, you love people. I’m just grieving like everyone who knew Chris. He was absolutely one of the hardest workers I knew. I gave him something to do, and he would make it happen effortlessly. We had a big event. … We had 800 show up that night. Chris got everybody parked, set up an overflow road. … He was just that type of guy.”
Hensley’s mother Catherine said, “As a mother I am broken. As a strong Christian, my faith remains solid, strong, and unshakeable. Christopher was my first born, my right hand, my helper, [he] gave me support and always strength in my weak moments. He was a great son. No human life should ever be taken down that way. He did not commit a crime or had any weapons on him.”
Some wonder if this tragedy will be pushed to the wayside by the liberal media, which has no ulterior motives for covering a story about a white youth pastor dying in police custody, despite the incident happening in a similar manner to George Floyd’s death.
FISWM News will continue to follow updates as they arise.