Creighton T. Spencer

Elko Daily Free Press

March 26, 2001

NEVADA LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER KILLED IN ON DUTY TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

Officer Creighton T. Spencer of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs died while responding to a call for service in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Spencer, 27, died Sunday March 25, 2001, when his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban patrol vehicle spun out of control on Interstate 80 about a mile west of Elko and was struck in the undercarriage by a tractor-trailer.

Nevada Highway Patrol accident reconstruction experts are trying to determine what caused Spencer to drift off the road edge, strike a road marker and overcorrect his west bound vehicle sending it tumbling through the median and into the path of the eastbound semi-truck.

Troy Poitra, Eastern Nevada BIA Chief said Spencer started the day at 7 a.m. with a firearm training in Owyhee, finishing up in time to return to Elko and start his regular shift from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. “We’re so undermanned that it’s not uncommon to work an 18 hr shift, just like it is not uncommon to work a 500 mile radius area by yourself, “Poitra said.

Spencer’s father, Jack Spencer, also a BIA Officer, was killed in a similar accident in 1998 on Interstate 80.

Spencer was born in Dec 8, 1973, in Joplin, Mo. He had lived in Elko for one year coming from Carson City, where he also worked as a police officer. His wife and daughter; brother Jack Lee Spencer Jr. and mother Kay Spencer and grandparents, Paul and Margaret Seely, survive him.

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