Tennessee sheriff’s deputy Daniel Wilkey has been accused of an unjustified shooting, coercing a detainee into an involuntary baptism, and stripped searching a minor.

He has now charged with 44 criminal acts, 25 of them felonies.

He is a very busy boy, he is only 26.

This raises two questions, first, why is he still being paid, albeit on leave, and second what about his partners and superiors who clearly knew that this guy was out of control:

Tennessee sheriff’s deputy Daniel Wilkey has racked up some amazing stats during his short law enforcement career. At the age of 26, Deputy Daniel Wilkey is at his second law enforcement agency, having left the Rhea County Sheriff’s Office for the Hamilton County in 2018.

During his time as a Rhea County deputy, Daniel Wilkey was named in one (1) federal lawsuit for fatally shooting a person. Since his arrival in Hamilton County in February 2018, Wilkey has been hit with five (5) civil rights lawsuits. Fortunately, none of these involve Wilkey killing anyone.

More unfortunately, about half of them break new ground in civil rights violation territory. One alleges an unlawful roadside anal search that injured the searchee. Another involves a super-weird forced baptism in a nearby lake, supposedly in exchange for leniency with a drug arrest. Both of those were filed on the same day.

Yet another two (2) lawsuits involve minors, roadside strip searches, and Wilkey’s bizarre personal blend of religious affirmations and verbal abuse.

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Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Daniel Wilkey has been indicted on 44 criminal charges, including 25 felonies, “pertaining to incidents he was involved in while on duty in an official capacity,” according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

Here are the charges (with counts per), which can pretty much be read to the tune “Twelve Days of Christmas” [felonies in bold]:

10 Reckless Driving
9 Official oppression
7 Reckless endangerment
6 Sexual Battery
4 Stalking
3 Assault
2 False imprisonment
2 Rape
1 Extortion

All this from a deputy who’s only been with his current agency for ten (10) months. And in that short period of time, he managed to rack up eight (8) internal affairs investigations.

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As for Wilkey’s compadres — the three deputies who stood idly by while Wilkey violated rights in new and inventive ways? They’re just kind of hanging around, sucking up tax dollars. Bobby Brewer, who aided with the roadside anal search, is on clerical duty. Jacob Goforth, who hung around and watched Wilkey “baptise” an arrestee, is back on active duty. And Tyler McRae, who helped Wilkey proselytize while stripping a minor down to his boxer shorts, is still on patrol and has not been placed under investigation.

The fact that he is still being paid is an obscenity.  The fact that his co-conspirators are still on the job is a clear and present danger to society.

The entire damn department needs to be shut down, because it is corrupt to its core.