LAWRENCE, Michigan — The Pokagon Band Tribal Police announced Saturday they're conducting an investigation after a deer was euthanized in Lawrence, Michigan.
The Tribal Police were conducting a warrant on a home Friday, Oct 20., for an unrelated issue. That's when they say a Tribal Officer killed the deer.
The police are now facing an onslaught of community backlash due to what the community feels was the wrongful killing of the deer.
"I would not trust him in my yard. I wouldn't trust him around my animals. The way he handled it was very, very wrong," said Amanda Beck, who saw the video of the officer killing the deer on Facebook.
"Now she's gone. She made a lot of people happy on a daily basis, and they're going to miss her.... I'm gonna miss her," said Pamela Babb who witnessed the incident take place.
In Facebook posts, members of the community say the deer was accustomed to people and they named her Annie. Despite no one owning the deer, she would often visit peoples' homes in Lawrence and neighboring towns.
"It was amazing. It was one of the most coolest things we'd ever seen. She let us pet her. She let my three-year-old pet her, and, you know, she kind of wandered around our yard, but she always came back to see us. She did no harm," said Beck.
Those who witnessed the incident told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that the officer claimed the deer was domesticated.
"They picked her up laying next to her dead mother who had been hit and killed," said Theresa Braswell who disagrees that the deer was ever domesticated, as she says a local family simply provided aid to the deer.
"We didn't ever trap her. She was always outside during two and a half years of it," added Babb as she described how long the deer has been a part of the community.
Community members are also disturbed that the deer was killed just feet from the family and children that first gave aid to the deer.
"You've not only traumatized everybody in the family who watched it happen 10 feet from them, but you now have what could have happened with you firing that firearm 10 feet from a house, 10-foot from a busy highway," said Braswell.
According to the Pokagon Band Tribal Police, they were assisting Van Buren County law enforcement and consulted with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The Tribal Police stated the officer involved has been placed on Administrative Leave and that an update will be provided once the investigation concludes.
"We want justice served, definitely for Annie’s life. You know, it didn't just hurt one of us it hurt all of us," said Beck.
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