K-9 Deputies Nikki Holliday And Corey Baker Fired After Out-Of-State Arrest

A Pickens County, South Carolina K-9 deputy left her Glock 17 in a QuikTrip bathroom — a child found it. Eighteen months later, she and her fiancé, both K-9 handlers at the same sheriff’s office, got cited in Gatlinburg. Now Sheriff Tommy Blankenship has fired them both.

The Gatlinburg arrest

K-9 Deputy Nikki Holliday and Deputy Corey Baker — engaged, and both assigned as K-9 handlers — were cited in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on public-intoxication charges. Internal emails obtained by FITSNews identified the deputies. At the time of the firing, both were still listed as active K-9 handlers on the sheriff’s own website.

The firing — and the word that isn’t there

Sheriff Blankenship fired both on Sept. 22. His public statement never says the firing involved misconduct — and in South Carolina law enforcement, that word choice matters: firing for misconduct can cost an officer their certification for life. A separation without it lets them keep theirs.

The gun in the bathroom

The backstory makes the pair’s record harder to ignore: eighteen months earlier, Holliday left her department Glock 17 in a QuikTrip bathroom where a child found it. The department’s response then — and what changed since — is the question this firing leaves open.

Watch the short

Sources

1. FITSNews: https://fitsnews.com/2026/09/23/two-pickens-county-k9-deputies-fired-following-out-of-state-arrest/
2. Greenville News: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2026/09/24/pickens-county-deputies-fired-gatlinburg-arrest/
3. WYFF: https://www.wyff4.com/article/pickens-county-deputies-fired-gatlinburg/20260924
4. FOX Carolina: https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/09/24/two-pickens-county-deputies-fired-after-gatlinburg-arrest/

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