NATCHEZ — When county resident Erika Felter called the Adams County Sheriff’s Office for assistance with an injured animal she found on Liberty Road, she never dreamed the incident would end with her in handcuffs.

Felter and her husband were traveling on Liberty Road Saturday evening when they came across a large buck they believed had been struck by a car and left injured on the side of the road.

“It looked like its back was broken and it was trying to crawl off the side of the road into the woods, but it couldn’t walk,” Felter said. “It just looked terrible.”

Felter called the Adams County Sheriff’s Office for assistance.

A short time later Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Darryl Longino arrived at the scene.

Felter said she asked Longino to shoot the animal to end its suffering.

Felter said Longino first shot the animal once in the throat and then once in the jaw approximately one minute later.

Neither shot killed the animal and seemed to only increase its pain, Felter said.

“I just kept asking (Longino) to shoot the animal in the head, and he kept saying that it would eventually die,” she said.

During the incident Felter’s brother arrived and provided Felter’s husband, Jonathan, a rifle with which to shoot the deer.

“At first the deputy said it was OK for me to shoot it in the head, then as I was about to, he changed his mind,” Felter’s husband said.

Jonathan Felter said as he turned to put the rifle back in his vehicle, his wife continued to plead with Longino to shoot the deer.

“She asked him to kill it, and then she was in handcuffs,” Jonathan Felter said.

Erika Felter said just before her arrest the deer’s loud cries brought her to tears.

“It was awful, and you could tell it was in pain,” she said. “Then (Longino) arrested me. He didn’t say what I was charged with or read me my rights, he just put the handcuffs on me and took me to jail.”

Felter later learned she was charged with failure to comply with a law enforcement official, which she felt was odd since she maintains Longino never asked or told her to do anything during the incident.

Adams County Sheriff Angie Brown said once Felter turns in the official paperwork to file a complaint the sheriff’s office will open an investigation.

“We’ll do an internal investigation to determine if there was any wrongdoing,” Brown said. “And if we find that any state laws or policies were violated, there will be disciplinary action.”

While Brown said she did not want Longino to discuss the incident with the press, she did say he would be working in his normal capacity as a deputy during the course of the investigation.

Felter said while she was glad to see the sheriff’s office taking action, the incident left her shaken.

“When you call a deputy for assistance, this is the last thing you think is going to happen,” Felter said. “People should not have to be afraid to call on them.”