Sparta police chief submits resignation after shooting dog; department set to have zero officers

The police chief in Sparta submitted his resignation and will leave the department on Dec. 14, the city's mayor told the News-Leader on Wednesday.

The move comes after Chief Andrew Spencer was placed on administrative leave in late November when he shot a caged dog so that he could respond to a car crash. It will also leave the Sparta Police Department devoid of anyone to respond to crimes in the city of about 1,700.

According to a report posted by Spencer on the department's Facebook page, but later taken down, on Nov. 10, Spencer and a citizen volunteer responded to multiple reports of a loose pit bull.

The report says Spencer eventually obtained a "catcher pole" and crate and forced the dog into the crate. Spencer then tried and failed to find a shelter to take the animal, and decided that he would need to locate "the cheapest vet to destroy the dog at the cost of the city." The report then says that while attempting to contact a veterinarian, Spencer was dispatched to a rollover crash at Sparta High School.

"Due to the higher priority call and the imminent destruction of the dog," Spencer writes in the report, "I decided it was best to destroy the dog and respond to the accident."

The report said Spencer then took the dog to the department's firing range, where he shot it once in the head before responding to the rollover crash. He later returned and buried the dog, the report said.

Harry Styron, city attorney for the city of Sparta, told the News-Leader in November the city requires loose dogs to be held for five days after they are picked up, and the fact that pit bulls are a prohibited breed in Sparta doesn't change that.

Sparta Mayor Mike Younker said Wednesday that city leaders asked Spencer to step down as chief, but wanted him to stay on with the department as a sergeant. Spencer, who became chief in September, opted to leave the department instead.

Younker said the chief typically oversees two officers, but that those two officers left the position for jobs with the Christian County Sheriff's Office this week.

Younker said Sparta residents shouldn't feel too much impact, because the sheriff's office also responds to reported crimes within the city.

"I don't expect anything to change," he said.

Younker said the city is looking to fill all three positions — a police chief and two officers.