Navy investigates video of dogs attacking Kaepernick stand-in
FORT LAUDERDALE — The U.S. Navy is investigating an incident in which dogs attacked a “Colin Kaepernick stand-in” during a K-9 demonstration during a 2019 fundraiser at the Navy Seals Museum in Fort Pierce.
The Navy said in a statement posted on Twitter that officials became aware of the video on Sunday.
Kaepernick is a former
San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began kneeling during the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” before games to protest social injustice and police brutality. He played his final NFL game in January 2017. He offered support to those protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May, and the NFL’s commissioner has apologized for not listening earlier to players’ concerns about social injustice.
The videos show four dogs attacking a man, who is wearing a red Kaepernick football jersey over heavily padded gear as people stand nearby watching. In a second video, the man is laying on the ground when he’s approached by men wearing fatigues and holding rifles, saying, “On your belly.” The man replies, “Oh, man, I will stand,” as he rolls over, followed by laughing from the crowd.
The videos were apparently posted on Instagram last year and resurfaced over the weekend.
“The inherent message of this video is completely inconsistent with the values and ethos of Naval Special Warfare and the U.S. Navy,” the statement said.
The Navy said the “initial indications” are that no active duty personnel or equipment were used in the demonstration at the “independent organization’s event.”
The man at the wheel of a BMW, who died after striking a tree in Lauderdale Lakes, has been identified, but investigators don’t yet know exactly what killed him.
Jimmy L. Jefferson, 57, of Oakland Park, was driving eastbound on West Oakland Park Boulevard at about 9:50 a.m. on July 29, when he lost control of his vehicle and struck the side of the raised median at Northwest 35th Avenue, Broward Sheriff’s Office traffic homicide investigators said.
When the car crossed the median, it continued traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes before crossing back over the median and hitting a tree on the south side of Oakland Park Boulevard. Jefferson was taken to Florida Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
A preliminary investigation suggested Jefferson did not die as a result of the crash. He may have suffered from a health issue that caused him to lose control of the BMW and hit the tree, according to investigators. A final determination of Jefferson’s cause of death will be made by the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office.