HEEHAW: The video we still haven’t seen
Cedartown, Georgia – There were cameras recording the night HeeHaw was shot. More than one. And those recordings could help answer the question at the center of this case: What actually happened in the moments before a Cedartown police officer fired the shot that killed the one-year-old miniature donkey?
We first told you about HeeHaw after he was shot during the overnight search for a missing child. His owner, Hannah Israel, says HeeHaw was bottle-raised, loved people and was known to approach them.
But Officer Trenton Garner describes a very different encounter in his incident report, writing that HeeHaw “began to charge at us.” Garner says a K-9 handler tried using a Taser before he fired one round to prevent injury to the K-9 team.
But there is evidence we still haven’t seen and question when we will. Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome has confirmed body-camera footage exists and that he has watched it. Garner’s own report also says the Rockmart Fire Department was operating a drone during the search and that firefighters witnessed the encounter through the drone camera.
And that makes something Newsome previously told WSB-TV even more important. After reviewing the bodycam, a reporter asked the chief whether Garner said he feared for his life. Newsome’s answer was simple: “No.”
So what do the cameras show? Do they support Garner’s description of HeeHaw charging the officers? Do they provide additional context that isn’t contained in the written report? And what exactly happened between the attempted use of a Taser and the decision to fire?
Those aren’t accusations. They’re questions the video itself may be able to answer.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Law Enforcement Division continues to investigate what happened, and I have found no indication that either the body-camera footage or drone video has been publicly released.
Until that evidence is made available, one of the most important pieces of this story remains out of public view.
The bodycam exists. The drone was there. So what do the videos show?
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SOURCE: Cedartown Police Department / WSB-TV / CBS News Atlanta
Fair use. Officer Trenton Garner has not been charged with a crime and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The investigation remains ongoing.