Jack Danford, formerly a deputy in Williamson County, Texas, has been fired and arrested for a March 3 incident in which he allegedly tackled and punched a 12-year-old girl simply because she tried to play with a dog.
As KXAN-TV (Austin) reports , it all began at the Oakwood BBQ restaurant at about 7:43 p.m. Russell Cope, who was delivering wood to the restaurant, brought along his girlfriend, her 12-year-old daughter, and a puppy. Cope let the puppy run around the restaurant’s outside patio.
Danford, who allegedly had been drinking all day, according to a witness, and who had had “a few beers” at the restaurant, picked up the puppy and petted it. Then the unnamed 12-year-old girl, who according to the police report has autism, walked towards where the dog was and began playing with him or her.
For reasons that remain unclear, this allegedly angered Danford to no end. According to the Miami Herald , the now-former deputy jumped up from his seat and tackled the girl , then began punching her. So vicious was the beating that she was getting that her stepfather describes it as if she were being attacked by a trained fighter.
“I seen him on top of her, he was hammer-fisting her, it was like UFC style.”
Texas cop, Jack Danford, loses job after allegedly drunkenly assaulting 12-year-old girl petting a puppy at an Austin barbecue restaurant https://t.co/gqm0U6OBrc
— retawob26 (@riiibbit) March 19, 2018
Further, Danford was allegedly so committed to beating the girl that there was no getting him off of her. Several witnesses surrounded him and began trying to pull him off of her — to no effect. Punches were thrown, by other patrons and by Cope, to no avail.
“I was punching him and it wasn’t even [fazing] him, it wasn’t even doing nothing.”
It took a kick from Cope’s steel-toed boot to knock out the girl’s alleged assailant. Cope says that the blow from his kick knocked the cop out cold.
When on-duty cops showed up, Danford, who had apparently regained consciousness, allegedly began fighting with them as well. It took an officer with a baton to subdue him.
The girl was taken to a hospital and treated for her minor injuries. While she is recovering physically, her parents say she has still not recovered mentally. Cope says she is afraid to go out and is afraid to go to the bathroom alone.
Danford, meanwhile, has been relieved of his duties with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. He is charged with third-degree injury to a child, as well as public intoxication and resisting arrest.
