A Gary man was sentenced Friday to 12.5 years total for two criminal cases, including killing a police dog.
Spencer Patterson, 30, will have to pay $11,000 to the Gary Police Department.
He got a split verdict last month for fleeing from Gary Police Sgt. Angel Lozano on July 13, 2023, killing Falco, his K-9, then shooting at the officer. A jury acquitted Patterson of attempted murder.
They convicted him of battery by means of a deadly weapon, two counts of resisting law enforcement, and one count of striking a law enforcement animal.
He got 8.5 years.
Patterson also pleaded guilty to battery by means of a deadly weapon in a different case where he admitted on June 15, 2023, to pulling up and shooting a man in the abdomen while driving in a Family Dollar parking lot, 500 W 5th Ave.
He got 4 years – with two in the Indiana Department of Correction and two in Lake County Community Corrections.
For Lozano’s hearing, the courtroom was half-filled with cops.
Yolanda Patterson, Spencer’s mother, asked for leniency. He got caught up in a string of crimes after moving back from Washington when a family member died, she said.
Her son was a “comforter,” “very giving” and a “family man.”
Lozano said the dog’s death was a “needless murder.”
He called Patterson a “coward” who killed “an innocent soul for doing his job.”
The dog was “loved by all” and the “biggest baby,” he said.
Defense lawyer John Cantrell, noting the prosecution’s $11,000 repayment request, asked Lozano if Falco was maxing out as a nearly decade-old police dog.
The German Shepherd mix was “healthy” and may have still worked 3-4 more years, the officer responded.
Cantrell asked for Patterson to avoid prison. While saying he did “sympathize” with Lozano, he noted dogs were property under Indiana law. He asked for Patterson to pay $3,000 instead.
Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz said Patterson hadn’t accepted responsibility. If Lozano had been shot, they could be memorializing him, she said.
The financial penalty of $11,000 didn’t “come close” to the cost to train the dog. The officer had a new K-9, Sarge, and Falco could have shown it the ropes, she said.
She asked for 10.5 years in Lozano’s case.
Patterson apologized to Lozano. He told Vasquez he would accept the sentence and apologized to his mother.
Vasquez ordered the $11,000 to be repaid. Shooting the dog was a “big deal,” he said.
Court records show Lozano and the dog proceeded to the area of the 1000 block of East 35th Place to search for Patterson. At first, he ordered Patterson, who was “fidgety,” to put his hands on the car. He gave the officer a fake name. As Lozano tried to handcuff him, Patterson took off.
They engaged in a foot pursuit in an area with knee-high overgrown grass, according to the probable cause affidavit. A witness told police that Patterson jumped over a fence and Falco followed him, hopping over the fence as well. Lozano couldn’t climb the fence, so he ran along its east side when he heard a few shots go off, records state.
Falco was shot during the short chase and he died from his wounds in the back of the residence. The animal was lying on the ground and had “shallow breathing,” Lozano told jurors. Patterson aimed at him, then opened fire, before Lozano shot back. Altogether, he fired six times at Patterson, Lozano said. Patterson told him he killed the dog because it was biting him.
In the backyard, Lozano noticed Falco was down but couldn’t initially locate Patterson, court records state. He told investigators that as he approached the west side of the residence, Patterson fired at him and he fired back at Patterson. At that point, Patterson gave up and was taken into custody, the affidavit states.
“I’m done, I’m done, I give up,” a witness testified Patterson said.
mcolias@post-trib.com
Post-Tribune archives contributed.