Frog kicked, tasered, painted
Florence, AZ (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Aug 2, 2010
County: Pinal

Disposition: Dismissed (Conditional)

Person of Interest: Raul Alvarado

The Pinal County Sheriff's Office plans to fight an order that it rehire a deputy fired earlier this year after reportedly using a Taser on a frog.

Internal investigation records show Deputy Raul Alvarado, 34, told witnesses he kicked the frog multiple times, painted it with Whiteout and stunned it with a Taser because he was "bored" at work in August 2009.

Officials say Alvarado said the frog was "taking it like a champ."

The deputy was terminated April 30 after sheriff's investigators determined he lied about the incident, violated codes of conduct and misused county equipment.

The county's Merit System Commission overturned Alvarado dismissal. Tim Gaffney, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said his department got the order last week.

"There's absolutely no doubt that Deputy Alvarado lied in this case," Gaffney said. "As far as bringing him back, the sheriff has no intentions and is in the process of appealing the merit board's decision."

An animal-cruelty charge against Alvarado was dropped Aug. 1 in a Florence-Coolidge justice court after he completed an anger-management program.

Internal-investigation records say another deputy found Alvarado sitting in a cubicle, the frog lying in a box top early Aug. 2, 2009, at department headquarters in Florence. Alvarado told him he found the frog in the parking lot and decided to bring it inside.

The deputy told investigators he watched Alvarado apply the Taser at least once, causing the frog's legs to shoot out.

An internal investigation was launched after a female dispatcher filed a complaint with her supervisor. Alvarado denied the accusations but said he told the dispatcher he was going to take the frog into the desert to perform a sex act on it, just to rile her. Alvarado also admitting firing the Taser 10 to 15 times that morning, but said he was only testing the unit because it hadn't been working properly.

In the meantime, the Casa Grande Police Department did a criminal investigation on Alvarado and recommended that prosecutors file charges for felony animal cruelty. As of now, no charges have been filed against Alvarado.

References

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