CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Cedar Springs man who is being charged with felony animal cruelty causing death admitted to 24 Hour News 8 that he killed a cat in front of his neighbors, including some children.
According to the Cedar Springs Police Department, 35-year-old Michael Patrick Stackhouse killed a cat after it got into his mobile home at Cedar Springs Mobile Estates.
Officers responded there when Stackhouse’s wife called, saying the cat had jumped over a partial door barrier to their mobile home. The woman later told police that the cat was dead and that her husband may have killed it.
Stackhouse told 24 Hour News 8 he tried to remove the cat after it first got into his home, but it ran to a bedroom and started to attack his dogs. He grabbed the cat, he said, and yanked it away.
He said he threw it out into the street and it started to twitch from he believed was a seizure, so he stomped on its head and killed it.
Police said children and neighbors were watching as Stackhouse killed the cat.
Stackhouse told 24 Hour News 8 Friday afternoon that he is sorry he killed the cat with nearly a dozen people watching, but said it would never have happened if the cat hadn’t come into his home.
“I’m terribly sorry that it happened and I’m sorry that I did do that in front of God and everybody, but ultimately, the cat was going to die,” Stackhouse said.
“It all boils down to if she had control over her pet and her animal, none of this would have taken place,” wife Deborah Stackhouse said.
Stackhouse was arrested but has bonded out of jail. The charge he faces is a four-year felony, but if convicted, Stackhouse’s prison time could be doubled because he already has a felony on his record.
He is expected to be in court for a preliminary hearing on April 21.