Daniel Wolfram
The police department is now guarding his home after his own account is being further questioned
As Dagens.com reported yesterday, a tragedy occurred last week in Polk County, Georgia, when officers went into a field reportedly looking for a missing girl.
What they found instead was a miniature donkey named HeeHaw. The cop tased the donkey and eventually fatally shot it.
Since then, there has been an internal investigation by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. However, the name of the cop who killed the donkey has now leaked.
The cop feared for his life
It was Officer Trenton Garner from the Cedartown Police Department who fired the fatal shot.
According to new reports, the officer shared his account of why he felt the need to shoot HeeHaw. Garner states that the miniature donkey “charged” at him.
The other officer tased the donkey, which did not stop HeeHaw. “So I removed my department-issued Glock 17 from its holster and pointed it at the donkey. I then fired a single round striking the donkey,” Officer Garner states in his report.
A reporter from WSB-TV, a local TV station in Georgia, tried to question Garner about this report, but was met by two other police officers who were guarding his home.
Click to display external content from t.co,
- You can always enable and disable third-party content.
You agree to display external third-party content. Personal data may be sent to the provider of the content and other third-party services.
HeeHaw’s owner demands footage to be released
The owner of the donkey, Hannah Israel, is demanding to see bodycam footage from that fatal night, as she does not believe the officer’s account of what happened.
“I would be shocked, completely shocked if he (HeeHaw) was being aggressive. He thought he was a dog before – he did dog-like things. He’s not like an attack donkey.”
No one has been charged yet
Hannah Israel stressed in a statement that she is “heartbroken and traumatized” after HeeHaw was killed, but that she does not condone harassment directed at the police officers: “We can seek accountability without hatred,” she wrote, according to CBS News.
Officer Trenton Garner has been with the Cedartown Police Department for three years. Neither he nor any of the other officers have been charged with any crime yet, as the investigation is still ongoing.
The missing girl, who was the main reason for the officers going onto the farm, was later found safe farther down the road.
