Spruce Pine investigating allegations
What began as an arrest of a Tennessee woman in Bakersville ended with a Spruce Pine Police Officer being placed on investigatory suspension following complaints made relating to an April 26 arrest.
The incident under investigation occurred on April 26, during the arrest of Haley Hodge, a 21-year-old from Elizabethton, Tennessee. Hodge was apprehended at the Bakersville Quick Market by the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office and charged with misdemeanor child abuse, resisting a public officer, being intoxicated and disruptive, and two counts of malicious conduct by an inmate for spitting on officers.
According to the arrest report filed by the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Jesse English, he responded to a call from Detective Austin Duncan for assistance with a female in custody – Hodge.
The report said Hodge was yelling and screaming from the back of the patrol car. While in the patrol car she was kicking the rear driver side door in an attempt to break loose.
During the booking process, officers decided to put Hodge in leg restraints to prevent her from damaging the patrol car and injuring herself. She was removed from the vehicle and put into the restraint chair. The report said the entire time she was there she was screaming, cursing, making threats to offices and spitting on them.
While there is no mention of Spruce Pine Police Department Officer Michael Ethan Sale in the incident report, Spruce Pine Town Manager Darlene Butler confirmed Officer Sale is on investigatory suspension with pay following complaints related to this arrest.
Currently individuals who are arrested by the county are processed at the Spruce Pine Police Department. This process will change once the new Mitchell County Sheriff’s offices under construction are open.
Officer Sale, who has been with the Spruce Pine Police Department since Nov. 6, 2023, was placed on suspension on May 3. There is no set timeline for the investigation’s completion.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is also investigating a previous incident involving Spruce Pine Police Department.
On Feb. 16, officers Michael Ethan Sale, Michael Hollifield, and Dalton Mace arrested Dillon Ledford at Walmart after a store manager requested a wellness check. Ledford, who has diabetes, was charged with trespassing and three counts of resisting arrest.
The Spruce Pine Police Department does not currently use body or dash cameras however, dash cams are included in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2024/25.
The Mitchell News-Journal has requested footage of the incidents from the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Department body cameras but did not received it prior to our press time.