The bodycam is out, and it does not match the police report. A Georgia officer said a yearling donkey named HeeHaw charged at him and his K-9 team. The tape shows the animal trotting toward the officers in the dark, ears up, like it was coming to say hello.
It happened in late August at Elsberry Riding and Farm near Rockmart, Georgia. Officer Trenton Garner, a K-9 handler and a bloodhound team were sweeping the pasture around 12:45 in the morning, looking for a missing 12-year-old girl. The girl was found safe.
Garner’s report says the donkey charged, the handler’s taser failed to stop it, and he fired one round from his Glock 17. HeeHaw ran off, collapsed, and died. On the radio, Garner told dispatch the animal had been trying to attack them.
“Firearm discharged at a donkey. It was trying to attack us on a pasture.”
The footage, released October 9 through an open records request, tells a different story. HeeHaw walks toward the officers slowly, the way curious animals do. Owner Hannah Israel, 25, bottle-raised him for the farm’s petting zoo and never bought the attack story. “HeeHaw thought people were his family, and HeeHaw was family,” she said.
Israel filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in September and is seeking $1 million. Georgia’s Department of Agriculture is investigating, and Garner was placed on leave. A “Justice for HeeHaw” campaign has been pushing the footage online all week.
A taser, then a gun, for an animal that walked up to say hello.
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