Posted on 07/27/2016 3:38:44 PM PDT by MtnClimber
An Austin man who is accused of beating a turtle to death with a hammer told authorities he was acting in self-defense, his arrest-warrant affidavit says.
Terry Washington, 55, told police that the turtle lunged at him and repeatedly tried to bite him after it had been hooked on a fishing line on the edge of Lady Bird Lake, KVUE-TV reports.
According to the affidavit, he said he killed the turtle in self-defense and in order to get the fishing hook back, then dragged it under a bridge to get it out of the view of passers-by.
The June 21 incident was captured on video by a runner, who posted it online. The graphic footage shows a man beating the turtle repeatedly with the blunt end of the hammer.
Witnesses told police that Washington never attempted to free the turtle from the line and said that the turtle was trying to get away from him, according to KXAN-TV.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
What an __________.
Works for me.
Hey idiot, cut the line.
All for a 25 cent hook.
Moron.
I would have cut the line too. He should not have killed it if he was not going to eat it. A hunting license for turtles?
I’ve had this happen a few times over 40 years of fishing usually with live bait) and have simply cut the line as close as possible to the turtle.
The hook will rot away over time.
Don’t use live bait much anymore anyway.
Yes, some states require a small game or trapping license for turtles.
.......living in/around Austin for decades so I can say without reservation that we have every strain of DNA human on earth.
I can also say that banging the turtle in the head was without a doubt dumb and un-necessary.
But, you get within a few feet of one of these 40lb turtles and he will lunge at you with his mouth wide open and you are going to be in a world of hurt if he closes those jaws on you.
Another freeper had it right, “cut the line a few feet away and let him go”. Simple as that.
I see what you did there.
Tort-Zilla!
I caught soft shelled turtles when I grew up in Florida. They were delicious. Caught snapping turtles and small alligators too. Got bitten once by each. But I always got them unhooked and released. Even the ones that bit me. That happened back when I was younger than 10 years old.
. . . and Jimmy Carter wasn’t even armed with a hammer
either was he?
Reminds me of the time I caught a seaturtle off the coast at Tyndall AFB in 1958. Cut it up in pieces and deep fried it and ate it with biscuits and grits. Awesome taste.
Or unconventional ones - including carpenter's tools.
Starting next week the libs will step in and investigate this for a hate crime with the perp using an assault hammer. Get’em Barrack. You’ll close every True Value in the country.
red
Why not say he was planning on having soup.
Red,
I wonder if he had a hammer carry permit or is open hammer carry legal in Texas?
Nope. . .had an oar. . .
Sounds fair to me you guys.
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