Never take candy from strangers. Everyone knows that. Children, adults -- even ducks, apparently.
Over the weekend, Florida woman Karie Lindgren was arrested on felony charges of animal cruelty, and police dispatched one of the most insane/troubling/disturbing arrest affidavits in recent times.
Lindgren is evidently not a woman to be trifled with. Around 6 p.m. Saturday, the 36-year-old Lindgren came upon a duck at a small home in Tarpon Springs. Then, for reasons unknown, she tried to give the duck some candy.
But, witnesses told police, the duck wasn't having it, declining to approach Lindgren. A great fury did awaken in Lindgren. First, she "stalked" the duck, one witness told police.
When that didn't work, the five-foot-five, 180-pound woman climbed into her car. She aimed it right at the duck, which had callously rejected her candy overture.
She put her foot down and "drove at a high rate of speed," the arrest report says, across the owner's front lawn, and "struck" the duck.
When the owner, Natalie Paraskevopoulos, returned home, she couldn't believe what had happened. There was her duck, killed over candy. "It was just really, really upsetting to find it that way," she told Bay News 9. "I mean, I was choked up. I was in tears by the time the police arrived."
Police say Lindgren was "uncooperative" while in custody, and she missed her arraignment Monday. Out on $5,000 bond, she faces one count of animal cruelty.
Send your story tips to the author, Terrence McCoy.
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