Joshua Gill reports at the Daily Caller:

A Connecticut pastor resigned Thursday after berating police officers for arresting a man who took refuge inside the church after beating his mother.

Rev. Care Goodstal Spinks obstructed a police car Tuesday and tried to force East Haven police officer to release Ryan Champlin, whom they arrested in Old Stone Church for attacking his mother and beating her head with a phone until the device broke, according to The Maven.

Church leadership thanked police officers for their swift and calm actions and announced Thursday via Facebook that Spinks resigned in light of her actions and her differences with the wider congregation. 

"This is a church," Spinks said to the officer, according to the DC. "We're protected by federal law and state law. It is a place of sanctuary and refuge."

However, "there is no such federal law protecting criminal suspects from arrest inside a church," the DC reports. "The officer explained that Champlin was wanted for domestic abuse and assault. His argument did not dissuade Spinks," according to the DC.

"You realize that you see on the news all the time, people taking sanctuary, refuge in a church, and even the federal law can't come in and get them, because this place is a protected place," the cleric told the officer, the DC reports.

The DC suggest that "Spinks was likely referencing cases of illegal immigrants who have taken refuge from deportation inside churches. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers do not make arrests inside churches as a matter of policy, since they list churches as a sensitive area, but no law technically prevents them from making arrests in said 'sensitive locations'."

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