At the East Spencer fire department, no one was talking about what happened last month when firefighters and their family gathered for their annual Christmas party.
That was where fire chief Shane Cranfield and former chief Allen Carlyle allegedly used a taser to shock an 18-year old firefighter. On Monday, Cranfield was fired and Carlyle was banned from the property.
"It was totally and entirely inappropriate and uncalled for," said Town Administrator Macon Sammons, Jr. "It should never have happened. And it forced our hand we had to act."
The 18-year old was shocked multiple times with the taser, Sammons said.
Sarah Etheredge lived across the street from the fire department and remembered the night of the party.
"They said they were playing around like that," Etheredge, said. "It is weird. They shouldn’t have."
Both the chief and the former chief had been charged with assault. They got the taser from an East Spencer police officer, who resigned last month after the incident, town leaders said.
