Don't Mess With Texas. Or Ask for Help.

What the hell is wrong with Texas? While reading the news this morning, I stumbled across not one but two stories about crazy happenings in Texas.

First, there's the story about an angry crowd beating someone to death. Here's the headline: Texas Crowd Kills Man After Car Hit Girl. So it sounds like mob justice got out of control, right? Well, here's the catch. The guy who was beaten to death wasn't even the driver involved in the (non-fatal) accident. He was the passenger. He and the driver had gotten out of the car to check on the little girl who'd been struck, and the crowd turned on him. He was beaten to death by possibly 20 men and left lying in a parking lot. The little girl who'd been hit by the car was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Next up is this story of how the cops tasered Allen Nelms, a man who was having a diabetic seizure. His girlfriend had called the paramedics. The cops showed up, burst through the bedroom door, and ordered the man to get on the floor. Then they tasered him. Shortly afterward, the paramedics intervened and removed the taser barbs and handcuffs. When Nelms registered a complaint with the local police department, this was the reply:

"A review regarding your written complaint dated May 3, 2007, was conducted. After careful consideration of your allegations we have found that the officers were within our departmental policies regarding the use of a less than lethal force option (TASER) on you during an event at your residence on April 28, 2007."

Unsurprisingly, Nelms has lawyered up. Not a bad idea. But it might be a better idea to just leave the damn state.