A 27 year-old driver from Acushnet accused of running over a duck faced animal cruelty charges.Police said surveillance video shows the driver striking the mother duck Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of the Dartmouth Mall.Police said the driver- Joshua Linhares- did not stop and that he was seen laughing after striking the mother duck.The driver said it was an accident and that he didn't see the ducks until it was too late. Police said the man told them he left the scene to avoid a confrontation with angry witnesses.The 12 orphaned ducklings are being cared for at a rehabilitation center until they can be released into the wild.The town's animal control officer, Cheryl Jackson, is familiar with the mother mallard. She said the walk through the mall parking lot is an annual migratory trek."She has her babies out in the woods in a nice secluded area where nothing can get to her. When they're large enough, she walks them across the parking lot, across Route 6 in front of Friendly's, and into the stream in the back," Jackson said.The mother and her ducklings had a close call one year. The babies fell through a storm grate and had to be rescued.