Former Bartow K-9 Cop Arrested After Fight in Walmart Parking Lot

A former Bartow County Sheriff's Office K-9 handler, an officer who was assigned to the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, was arrested Wednesday on accusations he hit a man during a fight in the Cartersville Walmart parking lot.

Christopher "Chris" Dewayne Day, 29, of Cassville Road in Cartersville, was involved in a dispute with his ex-wife—about exchanging their children for apparent visitation—which escalated to a physical fight between Day and his ex-wife's new husband, according to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office incident report, above.

Having trouble viewing the police report on your mobile device? Click here. 

The ex-wife called 911 about the incident, and dispatchers received other calls about the fight, which happened about 7:40 p.m, according to the report.
 
Day allegedly tried to speak with the woman, and the current husband intervened by saying, "You have nothing to say to my wife," as he told deputies, or yelling "(Expletive) you, you ain't talking to my (expletive) wife," as Day said, according to the report.   

The ex-wife said Day put his hands on her vehicle, then struck her husband in the face at least twice, once while she was on the phone with 911.

The man who had accompanied Day to Walmart said the current husband was in Day's face, but said he was trying to distract the children and did not see the current husband make any "gesture or movement with his hands that made him think he was going to strike (Day)," according to the report.

Day told police the man "chest bumped" him and took a "fighting stance," and "so (Day) started striking (the man) with a closed fist," the report says. Day said the man hit him twice in the face with a closed fist. 

He did not know how may times he struck the current husband, who then ran across the parking lot, Day told said, adding his ex-wife had jumped on his back during the fight, yelling, "Get off my husband," according to the report.

"A small area in the center of Day's upper lip" appeared to be swollen and he had a cut on his right hand around the middle knuckle, according to a deputy. 

The other man had a "small amount of blood which was coming from around (his) left ear and jaw area, and a small bruise above his left eye, a deputy reported.

The current husband told police Day—after exchanging the children and telling his friend to remove them from the area—walked over and hit him in face.   

"(The man) stated he then pushed Day and attempted to get away from him but Day followed him, striking him numerous times and eventually pulling off (his) shirt and jacket," the report says.

The man added that Day then walked over to the woman, who was on the phone with 911 dispatchers, and said, "Shut up (expletive)," then returned to strike the current husband in the face again. The man said he asked Day to stop and tried to get away from Day until Day attempted to leave the scene.

"I was able to determine that (Day) had struck (the current husband) about the face with a closed fist, unprovoked, causing a cut to (his) left jaw area," a deputy wrote in the report. "He had also allowed two juvenile females...who were sitting in a parked vehicle...adjacent to the area in which the fight occurred to witness him commit an act of battery against (the other man)."

Day was arrested and jailed on a battery charge and two counts of third-degree cruelty to children.

He served as a K-9 handler in Bartow County prior to a stint as the same with Doraville Police Department. Day's Facebook page indicates he left law enforcement in 2012 and currently owns and operates Quik Service Automotive, an auto repair business in or near the city of White.

Tell us in the comments below where you'll be on the parade route, share your photos and videos, and don’t miss any of the local news you care about—subscribe to Cartersville Patch's newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.