![\"Soft](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1188365917-Dog-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
Cops just seem\u00a0to\u00a0love<\/em><\/a>\u00a0killing people\u2019s pets. While\u00a0this act<\/a>\u00a0is often \u201cjustified\u201d by (often ridiculous) claims of \u201cofficer safety,\u201d\u00a0a whole lot of killing<\/a>\u00a0of people\u2019s dogs seems to happen just because law enforcement officers have\u00a0the means and the opportunity<\/a>\u00a0to carry this act out.<\/p>\nNothing involving the killing of people\u2019s dogs can be considered anomalous. The US Department of Justice\u00a0pointed this out years ago<\/a>, albeit not officially. In 2014, community-oriented-policing program head Laurel Matthews stated that cops are killing up to 30 pets\u00a0a day,<\/em>\u00a0something she referred to as an \u201cepidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n If anyone wants to argue this estimate isn\u2019t accurate, they\u2019re free to do so. But\u00a0it isn\u2019t difficult to believe<\/a>\u00a0American law enforcement is capable of killing 30 pets a day across the nation, especially when there\u2019s little reason for them\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0to shoot any animals they see while inviting themselves onto other people\u2019s private property.<\/p>\n But most cops are willing to limit themselves to one or two killings per incident. Former Tennessee law enforcement officer Connor Brackin, however, decided he couldn\u2019t call an end to this animal welfare visit until\u00a0he\u2019d personally\u00a0killed<\/em>\u00a0all but one the animals he was supposed to be saving<\/a>. (h\/t\u00a0Reason<\/a>)<\/p>\n Conner Brackin, a 24-year-old police deputy with the McNairy County Sheriff\u2019s Office, was\u00a0arrested and charged<\/a>\u00a0with aggravated animal cruelty on Tuesday following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. On Nov. 4, Brackin responded to an \u201canimal welfare concern\u201d in Bethel Springs, a city located around 100 miles east of Memphis. According to the affidavit, Brackin spoke with the person who made the complaint about multiple dogs on the neighboring property, some in pens, some in two different trailers. Brackin released one of the dogs from a pen and then \u201cloaded his service rifle and pistol and began firing into the campers at the dogs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He allegedly fired eight times, killing seven dogs.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s not insane. That\u2019s pyschopathic, which is something else altogether. The owner of the dogs, Kevin Dismuke, didn\u2019t know law enforcement was taking a look at his dogs until\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>Deputy Brackin had killed all but one of them. He was left to discover the fact on his own upon his return to his trailer, where he was greeted by one dead dog and then several others in quick succession.<\/p>\n The McNairy County Sheriff\u2019s Office tried to spin this a bit:<\/p>\n The McNairy County Sheriff\u2019s Office stated Brackin observed two dogs in \u201cextremely poor health\u201d and one was \u201calready deceased.\u201d After looking for the dogs\u2019 owner, Brackin let a neighbor take one of the dogs and said that he had been \u201ccleared to put down the remaining animals safely by my supervisor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But there\u2019s no force behind these words, much less any real sincerity. The Sheriff\u2019s Office doesn\u2019t really think Deputy Brackin\u2019s actions were justified. Nor does it care what the dogs\u2019 owner thinks about this impromptu guns-out raid performed by the deputy.<\/p>\n We already know most law enforcement agencies are rarely sincerely concerned about the misery their officers cause. But we do know the Sheriff\u2019s Office didn\u2019t feel these actions were justified, otherwise it might have stepped in to protect one of its own\u00a0before\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0happened<\/a>:<\/p>\n On November 7th<\/sup>, at the request of 25th Judicial District Attorney General Mark Davidson, TBI special agents began investigating the incident.\u00a0 Agents subsequently developed information that on November 4th, the McNairy County Sheriff\u2019s Department received an animal welfare concern call. \u00a0Deputy Connor Brackin (DOB: 07\/26\/2000) responded to the residence in the 8300 block of SR 199 in Bethel Springs, to check the condition of the dogs. \u00a0Bracken released one of the dogs to the complainant.\u00a0 For reasons under investigation, he fired his duty weapon, shooting and killing seven dogs on the property.<\/em><\/p>\n On Tuesday, TBI agents obtained warrants for Brackin, charging him with seven counts of Aggravated Cruelty to Animals and eight counts of Reckless Endangerment.\u00a0 Brackin turned himself in and was booked into the McNairy County Jail.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If the deputy felt his employer would have his back, he never would have turned himself in. If the Sheriff\u2019s Office thought Deputy Brackin was worth keeping on staff, it would have acted on his behalf. And it certainly wouldn\u2019t have accepted the 24-year-old officer\u2019s resignation if it thought his actions were justified. The now-former deputy is on his own. And, on top of this,\u00a0he\u2019s feeling the weight of his (extremely short) law enforcement past<\/a>\u00a0being brought to bear.<\/p>\n [Brackin] graduated from the training academy in September 2022. In less than two years, his personnel file shows an administrative summons with allegations from two different shootings. A statement from a hearing in May 2024 says Brackin \u201cdid not shoot the subject and was merely returning fire to the area where he observed a muzzle flash and the sound of gunfire.\u201d It was recommended he undergo remedial training.<\/em><\/p>\n The second incident, less than two months later, ended with someone dead. The TBI said the local district attorney called them in to investigate the shooting from March 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n In May 2024, the end of Brackin\u2019s probationary period, \u201cChief Corley found it was in the best interest of the community, the City of Jackson, and the Jackson Police Department to not retain Officer Brackin as a police officer.\u201d Brackin resigned a day later.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Getting canned less than two years in means someone is so bad at being a cop even cop shops won\u2019t stick out their neck for him. Fortunately for bad cops, there\u2019s\u00a0always another cop shop<\/a>\u00a0willing to hire anyone to be a cop, especially if they\u2019ve got any amount of experience under their belt.<\/p>\n But two years after this rescue from the pile of law enforcement rejects, Connor Brackin is once again jobless. Unfortunately for him, this second separation from the Thin Blue Line was voluntary and comes coupled with multiple criminal charges. Whatever comes out of this won\u2019t keep Brackin from seeking law enforcement options in the future. But maybe\u2026 just\u00a0maybe<\/em>\u2026 it will prevent law enforcement agencies from hiring him.<\/p>\n Mass Puppycide Ends Career Of Tennessee Deputy Who Probably Never Should Have Been A Cop<\/a><\/p>\n More Law-Related Stories From Techdirt:<\/strong><\/p>\n Court Says There\u2019s Nothing Unconstitutional About Warrantless Seizures, Searches Of An Immigration Lawyer\u2019s Phone<\/a>DOJ Investigation Proves That If A PD Isn\u2019t Known For Its Constant Rights Violations, It\u2019s Because It Hasn\u2019t Been Investigated Yet<\/a>FTC Joins CFPB In Finally Taking Aim At Data Brokers As Trumpism Looms<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the so-anyway-I-started-blasting dept The post Mass Puppycide Ends Career Of Tennessee Deputy Who Probably Never Should Have Been A Cop appeared first on Above the Law. Cops just seem\u00a0to\u00a0love\u00a0killing people\u2019s pets. While\u00a0this act\u00a0is often \u201cjustified\u201d by (often ridiculous) claims of \u201cofficer safety,\u201d\u00a0a whole lot of killing\u00a0of people\u2019s dogs seems to happen just because law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":97406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1188365917-Dog-Blsib0.jpeg?fit=2119%2C1415&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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