The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Dwayne Waden, pastor of Elevated Life International Ministries in High Point, North Carolina, stands accused of assaulting a man and trying to shove his face in a fryer at a local McDonald’s where his wife works.
A workplace conflict allegedly ended in assault and the arrest of a High Point, North Carolina, pastor, according to police records.
57-year-old Pastor Dwayne Waden said it all started when his wife got a job at the McDonald’s on South Main Street in High Point back in May.
Latoya Waden complained to her husband on Thursday that employees were disrespecting her, according to a police report, and he came to his wife’s workplace.
“She went to the back to get her keys. When she went to the back to get her keys, a gentleman came from behind, which was a manager, mouthing off at me and disrespecting my wife,” Dwayne said. “I approached him and said, ‘What you’re not going to do is disrespect my wife in front of me.’”
A police report states Dwayne then allegedly pushed the worker’s head toward the deep fryer and punched him in the face. It also states several employees had to pull Waden off the victim, who “suffered a large contusion to the forehead and right eye, along with scratches on his neck.”
“When I did that he got in my face when he got in my face I pushed him, and when I pushed him he grabbed me so when he grabbed me, we went to tussling and stuff of that nature and the floor was real slippery, so I kind of bear hug him, and when I bear hug him, he punched me in the back of my head. When he punched me in the back of my head, I commenced to swinging,” Dwayne said.
Officers were able to see footage from a surveillance video of the altercation. Dwayne, whose Facebook profile identifies him as pastor of Elevated Life International Ministries and a semi-truck driver, was arrested on a charge of assault and released on a $1,000 bond.
“My intent was to get my wife, and leave, and get out of that environment,” Dwayne said.
Dwayne said he regrets how far things went.
“This is a learning experience going forward. Don’t let people pull you into their chaos moving forward – just walk away,” he said.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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