An Indianapolis man will be in court next week after investigators say he admitted to hitting a goose with a plastic bat.

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - An Indianapolis man will be in court next week after investigators say he admitted to hitting a goose with a plastic bat.

It all happened at an apartment complex on the city's west side. And the man says he'd do it all over again if he had to to protect his son.

"Goose came for us," said James McDaniel.

McDaniel says he and his 4-year-old son Ethan were playing t-ball in a field.

"A goose comes flying from the other end of the field, full wing span, squawking (and) was going after my son. Flew landed about 5 or 6 feet away from my son, full wing span, and chased after him. He was hissing and he was flapping his wings at him. My son didn't know what to do."

McDaniel says he didn't hesitate.

"I grabbed him, hit the bird, grabbed everything else and ran."

McDaniel says he tried to call DNR, Animal Control, even the mayor's action line to report what happened.

"I wanted to know what to do," said McDaniel. "He was coming after my son. Now what do we do about the actual bird. Who comes out and takes care of the bird. Who takes the bird away. Nobody wanted to answer me. Nobody gave me answers."

Until two police officers showed up along with Indianapolis Animal Care Services and wrote McDaniel a ticket.

"I didn't know it was such a crime to protect my son," said McDaniel.

According to the report, two separate witnesses told officers McDaniel "hit the bird three times."

One of those witnesses also told investigators "the bird was no where near the child when James was hitting the bird with the bat.

She told investigators that he third time she saw James hit the bird "the bird was not even moving."

McDaniel says he only hit the goose once. "Let me protect my child."

The goose is now recovering in a veterinary facility.