By Nakayla McClelland
Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
GRANT COUNTY, N.M. — Four Grant County deputies were fired after a video surfaced of one of the deputies throwing a small rabbit into a patrol vehicle.
In the video, deputy Alejandro Gomez smiled at the camera while holding the rabbit. Moments later, Gomez threw the rabbit into the vehicle. A small thud could be heard in the recording while a Grant County Sheriff’s Office sergeant and corporal laughed hysterically.
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Gomez was placed on paid leave while New Mexico State Police investigated, and he was charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon upon a peace officer for allegedly threatening deputies with a weapon and one count of extreme cruelty to animals, which is a fourth-degree felony.
On Aug. 22 , Grant County Sheriff Raul Villanueva confirmed that all four men involved in the incident were fired from the department, including the deputy who reported the incident and attempted to prevent Gomez from holding the rabbit.
Villanueva would not confirm if the men’s termination was related to the rabbit video going viral and said he would not be able to release further information. The video got tens of thousands of views on social media, sparking outrage.
On Aug. 16, 2024 , two deputies, a sergeant and a corporal were working an overnight shift near Hachita when they came across a baby rabbit while driving along a dirt road, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Silver City Magistrate Court on Feb. 14 .
The four stopped their vehicle in the middle of the road, and one deputy walked toward the rabbit to get it off the roadway. When the rabbit did not leave, the deputy picked it up in an attempt to move it. The sergeant pulled out his cellphone to record a one-minute video of the group’s interaction with the rabbit.
Gomez asked to hold the bunny, but the deputy refused to hand it over, believing Gomez would kill it and said he “told him no because he felt that Deputy Gomez would hurt the animal,” according to the affidavit.
Gomez begged several times to hold the rabbit before he pointed a Taser at the deputy and said, “Give it to me right now.” The deputy told New Mexico State Police he was fearful that if he set the rabbit down, “Deputy Gomez would be able to pick it up and hurt it.”
The deputy begged Gomez not to throw the rabbit before asking him to “swear on his kids” that he wouldn’t. Gomez scooped up the rabbit in one hand, turned to the camera and smiled before throwing the rabbit into a patrol vehicle.
“Deputy Gomez threw the animal with such force that it fatally wounded the animal,” according to the affidavit. “A huge thud was heard as it struck the side of the patrol vehicle.”
Another deputy told State Police he shot the animal so “it would not suffer,” the affidavit states.
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