Georgia officer who shot, killed HeeHaw the donkey will not face criminal charges, DA says

The Georgia officer who shot and killed HeeHaw the donkey will not face criminal charges, the district attorney says. But the donkey's owner is continuing her fight in court.

In a Nov. 2 report, Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jaeson Smith said Cedartown Officer Trenton Garner reasonably acted to protect another officer during the encounter. 

Garner shot the donkey shortly after midnight Aug. 30 while officers were searching for a missing 12-year-old girl in Polk County. The girl was later found safe.

Smith's report draws on a Georgia Department of Agriculture investigation, witness interviews, dispatch records and body-camera video.

According to Smith's review, officers backed away as HeeHaw approached. Another officer activated a Taser's electrical arc, but the donkey continued toward him, getting approximately an arm's length away before Garner fired once. Body camera video reaffirmed this. 

"After a review of Investigator Cruce's entire investigation and all evidence, Garner's actions do not sustain criminal liability," Smith wrote.

The prosecutor's conclusion differed from an Agriculture Department investigator's assessment that Garner had violated criminal statutes, according to the report. Smith said that assessment omitted information important to evaluating whether the officers reasonably feared injury.

Israel has said HeeHaw was gentle and had never behaved aggressively. Smith's report cited other witnesses who described previous aggressive encounters with the donkey.

Israel's attorneys challenged the report's findings and the credibility of some witnesses. They also said they learned about the report through news organizations rather than investigators or the district attorney.

"There was simply no justification for HeeHaw to be killed," Israel's attorney Solomon Radner said. "Our battle for accountability will continue."

Israel has filed a civil lawsuit alleging officers entered her fenced pasture without permission or a warrant and shot HeeHaw without provocation. Garner has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that he reasonably believed another officer was in danger and is protected from liability.

Smith's criminal review is separate from that lawsuit.