Case Details

Dog-fighting
Belle Glade, FL (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Aug 31, 2003
County: Palm Beach
Local Map: available
Disposition: Not Charged

Persons of Interest:
» Alton Harrell
» Reginald D. Mickins

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 2033
Classification: Fighting
Animal: dog (pit-bull)
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Two sheriff's deputies accused of leaving a mauled pit bull to die on a dirt road were fired Monday but will not face criminal charges, officials said.

The two corrections officers � Alton Harrell and Reginald Mickins � had been arrested in September on animal cruelty charges after another deputy pulled them and two other men over in a truck east of Belle Glade. The deputy noticed a blood-smeared cage in the cargo area and later saw a badly injured pit bull abandoned nearby.

Investigators said the injuries to the pit bull, whose body was found in a nearby canal four days later, seemed consistent with dogfighting.

Sheriff Ed Bieluch said Monday both deputies would be fired after an internal affairs investigation concluded the men were responsible for abandoning the dog and were untruthful to investigators about their involvement.

"For this atrocious crime, I don't think there's anything appropriate except dismissal," Bieluch said.

Three years ago, the same two deputies pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attending a dogfight in suburban West Palm Beach. They were fired, but reinstated on a recommendation from an internal review board.

Criminal charges will not be filed against the men for the most recent incident because there was insufficient evidence that they had abandoned the dog, let alone engaged in dogfighting, the state attorney's office said.

"The investigation was never able to determine the dog found floating in the canal had actually been in a fight," said state attorney's office spokseman Mike Edmondson. "All it established is that the dog had at one point been in that cage."

Edmondson said a number of other law enforcement officials are being investigated locally for possible involvement in pit bull fighting but that no arrests have been made in those cases.

After being released from jail on bond in September, Harrell and Mickins continued working for the sheriff's office in a civilian capacity while the investigation against them continued.

They were no longer on the payroll as of Monday, Bieluch said, but they have the right to appeal their termination.

Case Updates

It has been nearly four years since Reginald Mickins, a sheriff's corrections officer, attended a dogfight. It has been more than three years since Mr. Mickins, allegedly a law enforcement officer, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for attending the illegal -- not to mention barbaric -- event. Mr. Mickins has been fired twice from the sheriff's office.

Yet he still isn't out of chances to regain his job. The latest comes today, when Mr. Mickins goes before a department review board. The case is one more example of why it is far too hard in Florida to fire bad law enforcement officers.

After a raid on the house in suburban West Palm Beach that was the scene of the dogfight in 2000, an investigator said that the eight pit bulls on the property "were bred and raised and trained solely for the purpose of fighting." Anyone who even would watch abuse of such animals and consider it entertainment has a problem. When someone who wears a uniform and draws a salary from taxpayers does so, the public has a problem.

Then-Sheriff Bob Neumann fired Mr. Mickins. In Palm Beach County, however, even causing the deaths of unarmed men hasn't been enough to cost police officers their jobs. So it was little surprise that a hearing officer recommended that Mr. Mickins get his job back. Mistakenly, Sheriff Ed Bieluch obliged. Mr. Mickins quickly showed why that was an error in judgment. In September 2003, he was charged with animal cruelty for abandoning a mortally wounded pit bull near Belle Glade. The animal was in a canal, and wounds indicated that it had been fighting. This time, Sheriff Bieluch fired Mr. Mickins.

It should have been enough that Mr. Mickins was at the first dogfight. Instead, the system not only allows him more chances, he can file a civil lawsuit if the review board denies his request -- as the board should. A system supposedly designed to prevent purely political firings remains badly off course.

Update posted on Jun 28, 2004 - 1:28PM 

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References

Palm Beach Post

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