DA clears Cedartown officer in fatal shooting of donkey

Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jaeson Smith has concluded that a Cedartown police officer will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting a donkey named HeeHaw during a search for a missing juvenile in August.

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The 12-page report outlines Smith’s review of the Aug. 30 shooting on Grady Road, including body-camera footage, witness interviews, dispatch records and investigative findings from the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

DA Smith determined that Officer Trenton Garner’s decision to shoot HeeHaw was legally justified based on the officers’ perception of an immediate threat. “Garner’s actions do not sustain criminal liability,” Smith wrote. Smith defended the officers’ entry into the pasture during the search, citing the legal doctrine governing open fields and the emergency circumstances involving a missing juvenile.

According to the report, the incident began at approximately 10:23 p.m. Aug. 29, when emergency responders were dispatched to Coaling Road after a juvenile was reported missing.

The child’s parents told dispatchers the juvenile had become upset, burned a book and possibly entered nearby woods. Officers were also advised that the child might be suicidal.

Polk County Officer Caleb Thomasson, who was off duty, arrived first, followed by Cedartown Officer Garner.

The search expanded to include thermal-imaging drones and a specialized bloodhound from Haralson County.

The report says at approximately 12:10 a.m. Aug. 30, Thomasson, Garner and a Haralson County K-9 Deputy were tracking the juvenile through a pasture when they saw the donkey.

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According to the DA’s account of the body-camera footage, the officers initially backed away as the animal approached.

The report says the donkey went from walking to trotting towards Thomasson. Thomasson took several steps back before pulling his Taser.

DA Smith wrote that the donkey was within approximately arm’s length of Thomasson, with its head raised and mouth open, before Garner fired one shot. HeeHaw ran uphill before the donkey collapsed.

Garner’s body camera was activated approximately 12 seconds after the shot, but its 30-second pre-activation recording feature captured the moments leading up to the shooting without audio.

In the recording, Garner later expressed regret about the shooting, saying, “God, I hate that I had to do that,” the report notes.

One of the report’s central findings concerns conflicting accounts of HeeHaw’s temperament.

The donkey’s owner, Hannah Israel, told investigators that the animal loved people, had never behaved aggressively and would run toward visitors because he was happy to see them.

However, DA Smith cited interviews with two other witnesses who described previous aggressive encounters with HeeHaw.

One neighbor, who said he helped bottle-feed HeeHaw when the donkey was young, reported that the animal had previously attacked him and that he had to escape over a fence.

The same neighbor claimed that HeeHaw had bitten a child during an incident at a camp on July 15.

Another witness, who had worked on equipment near the pasture, described the donkey as aggressive and said HeeHaw had previously jumped, bitten and kicked at people.

The report further noted a discrepancy concerning the animal’s size. Israel described HeeHaw as approximately 100 pounds, while a necropsy recorded a weight of 150 pounds.

Smith also devoted several pages of the report to criticizing aspects of the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s investigative findings.

According to the DA’s report, Department of Agriculture Inspector General Harlan Proveaux believed Garner had violated criminal statutes and prepared a probable cause report following a Sept. 15 meeting with prosecutors.

Smith argued that the probable cause reports failed to adequately address the officers’ perceptions of danger, statements from the drone operator and witness accounts of the donkey’s previous behavior. Smith said references to drone footage in the investigative reports were inaccurate because the drones didn’t record video.

Christopher McCormick, attorney for Hannah Israel released this statement:

“We are strong supporters of law enforcement, but we equally support accountability. There was simply no justification for HeeHaw to be killed; in a rural community, we expect law enforcement officers to have a better understanding of animals, and there is no universe in which HeeHaw posed any danger whatsoever. Our battle for accountability will continue.”

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