It began at Oakwood BBQ in Austin, Texas. It ended with a 12-year-old girl in the hospital and a sheriff’s deputy in handcuffs.

It was shortly before 8 p.m. on March 3 when sheriff’s deputy Jack Danford Jr. was sitting at the back of the restaurant with his daughter and her boyfriend while a 12-year-old girl and a small dog were running around near them, according to an affidavit obtained by Fox 26 and other local media.

The deputy picked up the dog and petted it before putting it back down, a witness told police in the affidavit. But when the 12-year-old girl began playing with the dog, the deputy allegedly jumped from his seat, tackled the girl and began punching her in the face again and again, …