Grand Rapids man accused of helping kill duck with club
Associated Press

     FARMINGTON HILLS-- Animal cruelty charges were pending against two men, one from Grand Rapids, who allegedly used food to lure a duckling from a pond, then decapitated it with a golf club.
     Authorities were deciding whether to seek charges against a third man who allegedly helped lure the duckling but wasn't directly involved in the killing.
     "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," said David Galvin, who witnessed the Tuesday night incident outside his girlfriend's apartment in Farmington Hills.
     One man held the duckling on the ground with his hands.  "Then the other one took an iron golf club and swung at it, ripping its head right off," Galvin said.
     Names of the suspects, all 22 years old, were not released.  But Police Chief William Dwyer said one from Grand Rapids and another from Ann Arbor were visiting a friend at the apartment complex.
     "The pond has traditionally been a popular spot (for residents) to feed ducks and geese," Dwyer said.  "There's even a 'duck crossing' sign across a nearby road."
     The Grand Rapids man allegedly held the duckling down while the Ann Arbor man swung the golf club at its head, Dwyer said.
     Galvin and other witnesses restrained the Grand Rapids man until police arrived; the Ann Arbor man was arrested after a short chase.
     "One witness said one suspect said he'd be back to take care of the," Dwyer said.  "When she asked him if he would cut her head off too, he replied, 'I did it to the duck -- I could do it to you.'"
     The two men were being held pending a hearing on charges of animal cruelty, a felony punishment by up to four years in prison, police said.  They also are awaiting sentencing on Kent County, where they pleaded guilty to an April burglary, Dwyer said.