Michigan Officer Clubs Porcupine to Death in Front of Children

Michigan Officer Kills Porcupine: Officer Disciplined After Beating Animal In City Park
WDIV Detroit
Jun. 10, 2010

ESCANABA, Mich. -- A police officer in the Upper Peninsula town of Escanaba has been disciplined for clubbing a porcupine to death at a city park.

A police officer who responded to a call about a porcupine that wandered into a playground clubbed the animal to death with a fire extinguisher in front of several young children and their parents.

Escanaba Public Safety Director Al O'Dell said Tuesday the officer, Jim McNeil, was disciplined with "coaching and counseling." He said McNeil would have no comment about the incident.

O'Dell said the McNeil hit the animal with the fire extinguisher because he felt it posed a danger to children and dogs in the area. "The officer made the wrong choice," O'Dell said. "He used poor judgment. ... We talked to him and hopefully this will never happen again."

One of the parents who witnessed the killing and the Humane Society complained to the police department about the incident.

"On a day where violence is the shadow of many memories, a disturbing display of animal cruelty was witnessed by many adults and, sadly enough, a group of children who were at Ludington Park to play," resident Jesse Witte wrote in a letter to the Daily Press newspaper.

Witte told the paper his child saw the porcupine being killed.

"I never could have fathomed that I would have to explain to my four-year-old daughter the truth to what she witnessed," he said. "As sad as she was, she asked if the porcupine would go to heaven."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.