Police officer legally justified in fatal shooting of pet donkey

ATLANTA, Ga. — A Georgia police officer was legally justified in fatally shooting a pet donkey during a late-night search for a missing child in August, according to prosecutors.Officer Trenton Garner’s decision to shoot the 1-year-old donkey, named HeeHaw, does not warrant animal cruelty charges, said Jaeson Smith, district attorney for the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, which covers Polk County.Garner was assisting Polk County police in searching for a missing child at the time. Police said the child was later found at a church near the pasture where HeeHaw was killed.Garner was placed on administrative leave while the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Law Enforcement Division investigated the shooting.In a report released Monday, the district attorney supported officers’ claims that they felt in immediate danger, citing witnesses who said HeeHaw had a history of biting and charging people.Based on the “immediate sense of serious bodily harm” experienced by an officer and a deputy as