CENTRAL - A controversial pastor was arrested Tuesday after allegedly attacking a person who lives across from his church. 

Mark Anthony "Tony" Spell, the pastor of Life Tabernacle Church along Hooper Road, was arrested and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for second-degree battery on Tuesday. 

WBRZ spoke with the Sherwins, who live across the street. They said Spell ran across the four-lane highway and started attacking their son, who was taken to a hospital and treated for his injuries. 

The Sherwins say Tuesday's incident was not isolated, and their son has been beaten by members of the church before. 

Spell sued the couple in 2023, adding them to a lawsuit he filed against former Governor John Bel Edwards, East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux and Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran following statewide COVID mandates. 

Spell was issued six misdemeanor summonses by Central Police officers in 2020 when he continued holding church services while COVID cases across the state were rising. In the same year, he was arrested for aggravated assault for allegedly trying to hit a protester outside of Life Tabernacle Church with the church's bus.

He bonded out and was ordered to abide by stay-at-home mandates. According to court documents, Spell was not charged in the case. 

Arrest paperwork says the ordeal was caught on camera by his neighbor's home security system, which is why he added the Sherwins to the lawsuit in 2023. 

An updated filing says the couple was "cooperating with those officials to install sophisticated cameras and monitoring devices on and in their home for the purposes of monitoring the activities of Pastor Spell, his family, and Life Tabernacle Church members and attendees." 

In 2024, the lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Richard "Chip" Moore. Spell appealed the decision, which made its way to the Supreme Court. They decided not to hear the case, and it was thrown out of the state appeals court for the second time recently.