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Will A SI Ferry Preacher's Plea Deal Keep Him Quiet?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 22, 2010
Modified Apr 22, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 22, 2010
Modified Apr 22, 2010
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Has one of the Staten Island Ferry pastors been silenced from preaching to his (involuntary) commuting congregation? SILive reports that Michael Ihedioha (also known as Michael Nwadiuko) has been sentenced to three years probation and is likely to keep mum after cutting a plea deal yesterday to a misdemeanor obstruction charge.
The incident which he was charged for took place last October. According to court papers he had been preaching sometime after midnight on the boat, with his arms outstretched and blocking an aisle. He resisted moving after an officer urged him to multiple times, screamed "You're breaking my arm" to draw attention to his arrest, and then he bit the officer's arm! WWJSay?
While banning him from preaching would be in violation of the First Amendment, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan said, "we are asking that the defendant use the ferry terminal only for traveling and not engage in behavior seen as harassing other patrons." Though that probably won't put the fear in the other preachers.
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michael ihedioha
michael nwadiuko
pastor
preacher
si ferry
staten island ferry
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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