Killing a goose

[dieselman]

Tonight, I was driving on a two lane road in Carmel. There was a goose in the road in the other lane and the car in that lane swerved to avoid it. I in turn was caught slightly off guard and swerved to avoid the car, hitting the goose. Carmel police called me shortly after saying they have received multiple phone calls saying I intentionally hit the goose, and they may have to call the dnr to investigate.... What could happen to me?

 

[Brandon]

If i am not mistaken they are federally protected birds/water foul.

that being said i have no idea what they could possibly do...

this was a Canadian goose, right? if so, who would call in over that? why they are protected is beyond me.

 

[PapaScout]

I'm not a lawyer but I'd say interviewed at worst. Any obstacle in the road is a hazard. Now if you'd driven across someone's lawn to run over the nasty little vermin it might be a drastically different story.

 

[96firephoenix]

normally, this would be a pretty cut and dry issue of getting interviewed and giving a statement. WRITE EVERY DETAIL DOWN NOW WHILE IT IS FRESH IN YOUR MEMORY. then you can tell them later at your interview and they should be reasonable and let you off with a notice that they are a protected species and as such it is a crime to kill them deliberately. As long as you were on teh pavement and reasonably within your lane, proving that you intentionally hit it is going to be difficult.

I see a couple things in your first post that might pose a problem. As noted below.

Tonight, I was driving on a two lane road in Carmel. There was a goose in the road in the other lane and the car in that lane swerved to avoid it. I in turn was caught slightly off guard and swerved to avoid the car, hitting the goose. Carmel police called me shortly after saying they have received multiple phone calls saying I intentionally hit the goose, and they may have to call the dnr to investigate.... What could happen to me?

 

[indykid]

Just tell them what you told us.

Unfortunately in Carmel there is so little crime that it is a huge thing when a goose gets hit by a car! They will also be angry because it will take them away from their collecting taxes through speed limits to investigate your accident.

 

[nate1865]

I can't get IMPD to respond to my complaint that they need to do something to protect pedestrians and motorists from each other in a specific area where pedestrians are walking right out into traffic and altercations are brewing.

 

[dieselman]

to answer some questions in subsequent posts to mine.. yes, it was a canada goose. it was in the right-center portion of the lane. i was taught to never swerve to avoid animals, but rather to take them head on, because i did not want to do what the car in front of me did and cut off and startle the driver of a car behind me.

does anybody know if killing one of these things is a felony?

 

[Don]

If I am not mistaken Indiana has a law prohibiting what the dip$hit infront of you did by swerving. Hit it and move on. These things are year round residents now, now show me how they are federally protected. They are Indiana Goose, game on...smash em.

 

[patience0830]

GO GET 'EM TIGER

Walking squawkin' poop factory. Nuisance animal as far as I can tell. Had some Idiot stop in front of me on 37 the other day to let one cross.
I'll run over every one that walks in front of me. Bleeding hearts be dam'd

 

[patience0830]

ONLY

to answer some questions in subsequent posts to mine.. yes, it was a canada goose. it was in the right-center portion of the lane. i was taught to never swerve to avoid animals, but rather to take them head on, because i did not want to do what the car in front of me did and cut off and startle the driver of a car behind me.

does anybody know if killing one of these things is a felony?

If you do it out of season with a gun or knife and go looking for the altercation w/o a duck stamp or license, yeah, probably. If you run over them its a blessing in my mind. A little ding in the fender is a small price to pay for one less goose.

 

[superjoe76]

to answer some questions in subsequent posts to mine.. yes, it was a canada goose. it was in the right-center portion of the lane. i was taught to never swerve to avoid animals, but rather to take them head on, because i did not want to do what the car in front of me did and cut off and startle the driver of a car behind me.

I was taught the same thing. Why on earth would anyone endanger the lives of human beings to avoid a goose?

 

[TREETOP]

If the city is "protecting" geese, then hopefully the city will cover any damages that their geese cause to vehicles when they get into traffic.

 

[duff]

This is crazy. I wouldn't sweat it at all. If what you said is correct there isn't a dang thing they can do to you. And no prosecutor would even waste their time with this case.

I know a few years ago there was some laws at least discussed that would give resident geese over to the state and not federal but I am not sure how far that went. Yes intentionally killing a game animal that is not damaging your property or threatening you is against the law. This would constitue a federal offence if found guilty. If you went out of your way to kill it and someone has good evidence of that than you might want to be worried. If what you claim is accurate you have nothing to worry about. Of course I am not law enforcement, judge or lawyer so take what I have to say with a grain of freaking salt!

 

[Bunnykid68]

In Carmel who knows what may happen. Ask Liberty Sanders about the prosecutors there.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Tonight, I was driving on a two lane road in Carmel. There was a goose in the road in the other lane and the car in that lane swerved to avoid it. I in turn was caught slightly off guard and swerved to avoid the car, hitting the goose. Carmel police called me shortly after saying they have received multiple phone calls saying I intentionally hit the goose, and they may have to call the dnr to investigate.... What could happen to me?

Did you do this in front of an audience and then stop to tell everyone who you were? Multiple phone calls about 1 goose being accidentally hit when you swerved to avoid another car? No one called to say that this poor person had someone swerve in front of him?

I'd be interested in hearing the rest of the story. Where this happened, time of day, if you were driving some sort of "evil" looking vehicle, and since you were in Carmel, if you are or look Hispanic.

 

[Fenway]

How did CarmelPD find you? Did you stop? Someone got your plate?

 

[dieselman]

Someone got my plate.

 

[Bunnykid68]

He drives one of those evil tactical trucks

 

[AZ Hunter]

They would have to prove "intent"....never going to happen. Don't worry about it.

 

[Bunnykid68]

They have to prove nothing to charge you with something and drag your butt into court if they wanted too.