Dashcam video shows Arkansas State Police trooper hitting herd of geese on highway
By: -----
Jacksonville, AR - Arkansas State Police head and cabinet secretary Col. Mike Hagar issued a strongly worded statement after public reaction to a video of a gosling being run over by a trooper in a patrol car.
The ASP incident report shows a trooper was called to Interstate 57 in Jacksonville, near East Republican Road, on Sunday morning after two geese, each with a gosling, were trying to cross the highway. Dash cam video from the responding trooper shows cars maneuvering to avoid them.
The 17-minute-plus dashcam video then shows the trooper attempting to herd the geese with his patrol car along the road’s right shoulder.
The trooper is heard calling Arkansas Game and Fish wardens.
“I’m trying to keep someone from wrecking. Do you have any suggestions?” he’s heard asking a warden.
The warden later said an AGFC officer on scene would be doing the same thing.
“There’s no real way to catch them,” the warden is heard saying, “We don’t have nets, and you’re not going to get close enough if you did. The geese themselves will fly away, but the little ones won’t,” later adding, “I’d be doing the same thing you’re doing.”
What follows is an exchange between the trooper and the warden.
Warden: “Somebody’s going to end up smoking them.”
Trooper: “Or somebody’s car is going to end up getting smoked.”
Warden: “And then someone is going to wreck, to avoid a duck they should’ve just hit.”
At several points, the geese re-cross the highway and get behind the trooper after running along the left side of his patrol car. Several times, the dash cam shows the car reversing to get behind the geese again.
As the dashcam video continues, the goslings and one adult goose are no longer seen. The remaining adult goose is seen flying off near the end of the recording.
An online video of the incident drew widespread criticism of the state police by posters on Monday. Hagar’s statement on the incident, posted to his personal Facebook account, stated that human lives on the Interstate was a critical factor in the trooper’s decision.