Posted on 07/27/2016 7:32:51 AM PDT by NRx
...A jogger named Geoffrey Frank saw the blood and the action that drew it. In a graphic video he posted to Facebook, it is possible to hear the meaty crack of the hammer against the turtle shell over Frank’s horrified murmurs of protest.
Frank turned a corner on the trail that runs near Lady Bird Lake to see, as he told Austin’s KXAN-TV, Washington swing the tool down upon the turtle’s shell. On his second loop, the turtle was dead.
It was “sick,” Frank said to KXAN. He watched as the man “smashed it to death with a hammer.”
The animal was still hooked with the fishing line. Washington struck the animal at least 10 times, police told Fox 7, caving in its skull. While witnesses called for him to let the turtle be, according to Frank’s account Washington allegedly dragged the turtle carcass away from shore, left the body and took off in his car...
...Washington said that he was simply protecting himself. The reptile had lunged at him, he said, according to the affidavit. He acknowledged to police he had made no effort to cut the line or unhook the turtle. Police countered that the witness accounts dispute the claims of self-defense and a fast death for the turtle.
As the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department told the Midland Reporter-Telegram, only licensed hunters can catch turtles in Texas. It is also possible he will be fined for illegally dumping dead wildlife. The charge of animal cruelty is a state jail felony under the Texas penal code. Washington’s bond was set at $5,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Not an “animal rights” loon by any stretch, but when you are in a animal’s natural turf, assuming no aggression, we are the guests.
Crazy people need to be locked up
If a man can’t dodge a “lunging” turtle, he shouldn’t be out and about. What an idiot.
Perp wasn’t named Mario by any chance?
no- but rumor is he had obama and hillary stickers on his car...
Aggies
If his shell is his home then should he also be charged with breaking and entering?
Silly man should have just mishandled top secret documents- there’s no penalty for that.
Oh wait... maybe he didn;t INTEND to kill the turtle with a hammer
Trying to imagine a turtle lunging at him makes me think of the killer bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
We hooked a turtle once....in Canada....yes, they do lunge....and they’ll scare the sh** out of you. Once it’s loose...I agree....nail it.
Turtles are surprisingly fast and dangerous.
They can reach halfway around their body with a neck that is far longer than you might think, and they move it lightning fast.
Try to grab one the wrong way and you will lose some fingers or even a hand
I am almost willing to give this gy the benefit of the doubt if he willingly came forward and explained what happend- I do NOT like to be around them and I would kill one too, if it attacked.
I ordered Turtle Soup from the waitress and told her to --
"Make it snappy!" 
“Officer, I can’t explain it. He ran smack into my knife all 42 times.”
Now, can we do the same for people who attack and kill humans?
I had the turtle soup at Commander’s Palace. It was good.
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