The above recording was obtained by Rommi White and shared with us and the press release below was issued this afternoon by SRSO.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office is following up with some important points related to the shooting of a donkey back on April 12,2022 along with a chronology of events taken from reports and documents.
Sheriff’s Office dispatch received the initial call of a loose donkey at 11:56am. At the same time, Dispatch contacted the Livestock Officer. Sheriff’s Deputy arrived on scene at 12:20. At 12:57, the on-scene deputy added notes to this call stating” Livestock Officer said he’s got and doesn’t need a Deputy anymore” and “Livestock Officer said he has everything under control”. At 12:58, the Deputy leaves the area.
At 1:50 pm, The Livestock office contacted our Dispatch center. He asked to speak with someone because he was “fixin’ to pile this donkey up” and that he had no way to capture the animal. He further stated the animal was a danger and he was going to make it disappear. He also stated he needed permission and that the animal “Wasn’t worth but $10” and the animal was partially contained. The call was then transferred to Lt. Phillips, District Lieutenant of Milton. Transferred calls to cell phones are not recorded.
In a written report, Lt. Phillips advises the following: “On 04/12/2022 at approx. 1349 hrs. I received a phone call from livestock agent Phillip Hayes in reference to the complaint of a loose donkey on Deaton Bridge Rd. Mr. Hayes stated that he was unable to catch the donkey and that it was a danger of running into the road. He then stated that he needed to put the donkey to sleep to resolve the issue and needed authorization. Based off his statement I understood that by putting the animal asleep he was going to utilize a tranquilizer in order to catch the donkey. I found out later that Hayes actually shot and killed the donkey. I also found out from officers on scene that Hayes did not bring a trailer with him nor did he have any equipment to catch the donkey with.”
At 2:23 pm, there was a recorded call which was posted online of a Sheriff’s Office Dispatcher stating the officers on scene chose the best course of action. This dispatcher mis-spoke on the details of the incident and gave a general answer to what she believed to have occurred.
We want to stress, at no time did any employees of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office authorize Phillip Hayes to shoot and kill the donkey. At no time did Phillip Hayes advise Dispatch or Lt. Phillips that he was going to actually kill the animal. Hayes used euphemisms to allude to his intentions. Major Crimes Detectives subsequently developed probable cause to arrest Phillip Hayes.
