On a stretch of road near Dudley, Georgia, the life of 22-year-old male Deputy Sheriff Kyle Wayne Dinkheller was cut tragically short on January 12, 1998. What began as a routine traffic stop for speeding escalated into a violent confrontation that would be captured on the deputy's dashboard camera, leaving a lasting impact on law enforcement training.
Dinkheller, a deputy with the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, pulled over a pickup truck driven by Andrew Howard Brannan after clocking
it at nearly 100 miles per hour. The initial interaction seemed ordinary, but the situation quickly deteriorated when Brannan, a 49-year-old Vietnam veteran, became belligerent. After Dinkheller instructed him to take his hands out of his pockets, Brannan began to dance erratically in the road, taunting the deputy and yelling 'shoot me.'
The verbal dispute turned physical, and Brannan retreated to his truck, retrieving an M-1 carbine rifle. A gunfight erupted between the two men. Dinkheller was able to wound Brannan in the stomach, but he himself was struck multiple times. Despite his injuries, Brannan continued his assault, reloading his weapon and firing a final, fatal shot into Dinkheller's eye. After the shooting, Brannan fled the scene in his truck.
A manhunt for Brannan ensued, and he was discovered the next morning hiding in a sleeping bag under a tarp. At the time of his arrest, he reportedly told investigators, 'they can hang me.' During his trial, Brannan's defense argued that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, citing his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service. However, the prosecution presented the dashcam footage as evidence of a premeditated and cruel act. On January 28, 2000, a jury found Andrew Howard Brannan guilty of murder. Two days later, he was sentenced to death. After numerous appeals, Brannan was executed by lethal injection on January 13, 2015.
