The apparent argument with a girlfriend that resulted in his arrest at an Olathe hotel wasn’t the first time Eudora Fire Chief Spencer McCabe found himself crossways with the law.

Court records show McCabe had previously shoved a senior co-worker over a chair and had been arrested for driving under the influence. Both of those incidents resulted in successfully completed court diversions.

Now, after the hotel escapade that left tiny Eudora with a “black eye,” it is still up in the air whether McCabe will be allowed to keep his job as fire chief, said Eudora City Councilman Tom Pyle.

“He and his girlfriend had a difference of opinion about something,” Pyle said Tuesday, describing the episode in or near the hot tub room at an out-of-town, weekend hotel party that included the city’s chief of police and other off-duty Eudora Police officers.

Repeated phone calls to McCabe seeking comment went unanswered.

New territory

Pyle said it was too soon to discuss how he and other city officials would respond to the incident. He emphasized McCabe has yet to have his day in court, but said the incident had given the city a black eye.

“In all these years we’ve never encountered anything like this,” said Pyle, who has been on the council for more than 20 years. “This is new territory.”

But it’s not the first time McCabe has faced criminal charges.

In 1995, while working as an assistant custodian for the Eudora school district, he was charged with misdemeanor battery for shoving another custodian, John Born, over a chair then pushing him into a wall, according to documents filed in Douglas County District Court. Born had said something to McCabe about the quality of his work, court records showed.

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The charge was dismissed after McCabe met the requirements of a diversion agreement.

“I think he should have spent some time in jail,” Born said Tuesday. “They didn’t do crap to him.”

Instead, Born said, McCabe was only required to write him a letter of apology.

In 1993, McCabe was charged in Douglas County with speeding on a county road, driving left of center and drunken driving. Those charges also were dismissed after completion of a diversion agreement.

Latest run-in

In his latest run-in with law enforcement, McCabe was arrested by Olathe Police after a disturbance at a Holiday Inn in the city. He was charged Monday in Johnson County District Court with felony criminal damage to property and released from jail on $1,000 bond. He is to appear in court Sept. 9.

Johnson County prosecutors alleged McCabe caused $1,000 damage.

Saturday night, McCabe was attending a birthday party at the Olathe hotel for the wife of a Eudora police officer. Other off-duty officers were there, including Police Chief Greg Dahlem. No one else at the party was arrested or charged.

Dahlem, who became police chief more than a year ago after serving as an officer for several years, has declined to comment about the incident.

‘Wasn’t a wild party’

According to Pyle, however, Dahlem feels badly about the incident, even though he and others did nothing wrong.

“He’s quite upset,” Pyle said. “It kind of sounds like they were having a wild party. It wasn’t a wild party.”

The officers were accompanied by their wives and some children were there, although the children were in their rooms sleeping at the time of the McCabe’s incident, he said.

Pyle said he learned about the incident Monday after talking to City Administrator Mike Yanez. On Monday evening, Yanez talked with McCabe about the incident then placed him on administrative leave with pay pending further action by Mayor Ron Conner and the City Council. Only the mayor and council can hire, fire or discipline department heads under Eudora’s form of city government.

Conner has been out of town and unavailable for comment.

The council’s next meeting is Sept. 13. Pyle said he doesn’t know what the council might do, noting that councilmen are not supposed to discuss city business among themselves outside of the meeting.