Mars Hill police chief fired for policy breach, according to town manager

Johnny Casey, Asheville Citizen Times
·2 min read
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Jon Clark officially assumed the Mars Hill Police Department position on March 1.
Jon Clark officially assumed the Mars Hill Police Department position on March 1.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill Police Chief Jon Clark was terminated by the town, according to Town Manager Nathan Bennett.

Clark was terminated Oct. 16 due to a policy breach, according to Bennett.

"He's a good guy," Bennett said. "Very able-bodied. Very knowledgeable. There was a policy breach, and we were trying to work that out, but that ended up becoming a termination. There was no alternative."

Questions about Clark's replacement on an interim and full-time basis were not answered by press time.

Clark began serving as acting chief in February 2021 before his official hiring as police chief on March 1, 2021.

The Mars Hill Police Department
The Mars Hill Police Department

Clark had served with MHPD since 2016, and after roughly a year, Clark worked his way up to captain under former Police Chief Michael Garrison prior to his promotion to chief in 2021.

Before coming to MHPD, he worked with the Madison County Sheriff's Office from 2007-16.

On Sept. 20, Clark was suspended without pay following the town's emergency meeting in closed session.

Mars Hill Police
Mars Hill Police

Bennett said Clark was not terminated due to mishandling a case.

"I don't want anybody to think that he was discharged for not handling a case properly, which was absolutely not the situation," Bennett said "It was nothing from that realm. He was doing something on the job that he should not have been doing."

Bennett said the town "took abundant care" in its investigation of Clark and hired a third-party investigator from Huntersville to perform its investigation.

"We farmed it all out to a non-biased, unaffiliated professional investigation firm that handles police personnel matters," he said.

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Clark was born and raised in Weaverville and is a 2000 graduate of North Buncombe High School. From there, he went to Western Carolina University, where he majored in criminal justice.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Mars Hill police chief fired for policy breach, town manager says