Deputy charged with DUI, hit-and-run in parking lot crash

Police: 2 men in car hit by deputy's truck followed him, started arguing in road

ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – An Alachua County deputy, who has been honored for his heroism, is facing charges of DUI with property damage and hit-and-run after he left the scene of a parking lot crash early Friday morning, according to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Joseph Sperring, 27, was arrested just before 1 a.m. Friday by a Gainesville police officer and was taken to the Alachua County Jail. He was released at 12:15 p.m. Friday.

According to the arrest report, Sperring hit a parked car as he was leaving a parking lot across from Rain Nightclub in Gainesville and was pulled over for speeding.

Witnesses told police that Sperring's gray Chevrolet Silverado got stuck against their white sedan, and he reversed the truck to separate the vehicles before driving away. The two men in the white sedan followed Sperring, and eventually pulled in front of him on the road, stopped and began yelling at him about the crash, according to police.

An officer who had been following the group of vehicles after recording Sperring speeding saw the altercation and said he observed signs of impairment in Sperring, according to police. The officer said he could smell alcohol on Sperring and that the deputy's eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

Sperring refused to participate in field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of DUI, police said.

When the officer asked him to submit a breath sample, Sperring complained of chest pains and the officer called Alachua County Fire Rescue, who took Sperring to a hospital, where he refused to submit a blood sample.

The officer said Sperring told him he'd had one drink “hours” before leaving the restaurant.

Sperring was named officer of the month in August after he risked his life to rescue a driver from a burning car. Sperring and two other deputies pulled the driver from the burning car, then performed CPR until medical officials arrived, saving the driver’s life. 

The Alachua County Sheriffs Office of Professional Standards was notified of Sperring's arerst and will now begin an internal investigation, deputies said. The investigation will run parallel with the criminal case.

Sperring, who has been with the sheriff's office since September 2014, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigations by Sheriff Sadie Darnell.

“We were notified by the Gainesville Police Department early this morning that they had arrested one of our deputies, and at that time we confiscated what equipment he had on hand that belongs to our office,” sheriff's office spokesman Art Forgey said.

Sperring had been assigned to the patrol operations bureau. It's unclear if he will lose his job over the incident.

“That will be entirely up to the sheriff. That will be her decision,” Forgey said. “We have had officers that have gone through similar circumstances that have come back, and we've had officers that have not.”

Forgey said Sperring has been a very good deputy in his time with the sheriff's office.

“We believe in second chances,” Forgey said. “We see it every day out in the community. We try to help people to square their life away and to get on the right track. We're not going to turn our back on one of our own, if he needs that help.”

The Gainesville Police Department released a statement about the arrest:

The Gainesville Police Department is tasked with enforcing the law consistently with equal treatment to all persons, regardless of their career.