Officer hurt when brakes fail on car

Sparta Police Detective Wayne Crouse, 47, was injured Dec. 28 at 7:45 p.m. when a Sparta Police cruiser, driven by 28-year-old Officer Tim Bartlett, experienced brake failure and struck a store building.

The cruiser collided the side of Mountain Top Quick Stop, located on U.S. 21 South, according to report filed by Sgt. V.C. Whitley with the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

Bartlett and Crouse were responding to a request of Officer Donny Brown of the Sparta Police Department for back-up on what was then thought to be a robbery in progress.

The incident turned out to be an issue between a couple involving drugs, warrants show.

Bartlett and Crouse were in the police cruiser, a 1999 Ford, with the lights and siren activated, according to the report. The Ford was traveling south in the parking lot of Mountain Top Quick Stop when Bartlett applied the brakes, but they did not respond. The Ford then collided with the building of Mountain Top Quick Stop. After impact, the Ford stopped next to the building.

Crouse was a passenger in the vehicle. By the time Crouse and Bartlett arrived on the scene, Brown already had apprehended Allen and was leading him to his police car.

“I tried to brace myself on the floorboard with my foot and the impact caused the injury,” Crouse said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. He noted that he had two broken bones in his foot that had to be reset with pins and screws and also that the other bones in his foot had been ‘displaced’ and needed to be realigned with traction.

Crouse first was taken to Alleghany Memorial Hospital, where he learned his foot was broken after an x-ray; he was treated and released. He was later seen in Elkin by an orthopedic surgeon and underwent surgery two days after the incident at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital.

According to Crouse, he is under doctor’s order to be out of work for eight weeks to recover from the injury.

“I can’t put any pressure on my foot whatsoever for eight weeks,” Crouse said. The long-time detective also noted this is the first bone he has ever broken and the first time he has been out of duty due to injury in his 20-plus year career.

Damage to the building, owned by Gary Sparks, was estimated at $300. Damage to the Ford, registered to the Town of Sparta, was estimated at $1,200.

The Dispatch Call

Brown had been dispatched to Mountain Top Quick Stop when store clerk, 25-year-old Brandy Ann Evans of Sparta, called 9-1-1 and hung up while the call was in progress. Dispatch advised Brown that a possible robbery was in progress at the location.

According to Brown’s report, he arrived to find 32-year-old Shawn Dale Allen of Elk Creek, Va., behind the counter with Evans. Allen also listed elsewhere Evans’ address in Glade Valley as his home address.

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