A police officer has been sacked after tackling an errant squirrel with pepper spray and a gun.
Jody Putnam was fired from Tennessee's Mountain City Police force after the incident, which saw him confront the creature in a Dollar General store.
Putnam, an officer with nearly two decades of experience, was dispatched after the owner of the store reported the squirrel found its way into the building. The town's Animal Control officer had not been available at the time of the call.
"Shooting back there, of course that should not have been, that should not have happened. Then they began to spray it with mace and pepper spray," Duffield told WJHL-TV.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
"There was a lot of people that come out and just like me they came out and they were coughing and a hacking. It was comical, but I'm sure they didn't feel that way, the customers that came out."
When bystanders re-entered the store they found a victorious Putnam with the dead squirrel pinned under his shoe, the Mountain City Tomahawk reported.
According to WBIR, Putnam was fired after refusing to follow procedure and make a written statement detailing why he had fired his weapon.