A Waco resident has been charged with cruelty to a nonlivestock animal in an incident in which a man claiming to be on a synthetic form of marijuana called K-2 chased a neighbor while barking and growling and then attacked a family dog, which he beat, strangled and then started to eat…. On June 14, a caller told police that a man was “going crazy,” KWTX says. The man, who claimed to have ingested K-2, “got down on his hands and knees and chased a neighbor while barking and growling like a dog,” a witness told police. The man took a black dog to the front porch of the home, beat and strangled the animal and then “began to bite into the dog, ripping pieces of the flesh away,” Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told the station. Officers reportedly found Daniel sitting on the porch with blood on his face, hands and clothing….
I know I write frequently about how much I don’t miss Texas, but there actually are a few things I find myself missing about the Lone Star State. Sure, there’s the politics, which is nothing if not a laboratory for lunacy and epic hypocrisy. Then there’s the over the top, unmedicated craziness that simply defies description. Maybe it’s the heat. Or the humidity. Or the stupidity. Or all of the above. Then again, I’m not certain what could be responsible for a headline like this:
TEXAS MAN BARKS AT NEIGHBOR, EATS DOG
Yeah, I know; it sounds like something out of an episode of The Walking Dead. Still, this is almost as sick and twisted as most anything that comes out of the Texas Legislature or the Texas Republican Party’s platform (“We oppose the teaching of higher order thinking skills, critical thinking, and similar programs.”)
Michael Terron Daniel can claim to have been high on K-2, or bath salts, or life, but I can’t think of anything that could possibly be used to justify what he did to an innocent dog. I realize that he can’t be sentenced to the same fate, but I find myself wondering if sometimes an eye for an eye isn’t a concept worth revisiting. Abusing and killing an animal is so far beyond the pale, even in Texas, that I almost can’t find the words to adequately express my disgust and outrage.
You have to work pretty hard to be this crazy; perhaps next time Daniel would be well-advised to stick to real marijuana. At least when the munchies strike, he’ll be in the hunt for a bag of Doritos or some chocolate chip cookies…and the neighbors won’t have to hide their house pets.
