Schmuck Alert: Mike Truman

Meet Mike Truman, security coordinator for the Travis County sheriff's department. Now, normally you don't hear much about such public servants in obscure positions, but this guy's a real charmer. When this ornery Texan isn't helping his wife fend off charges of animal cruelty, he likes to grapple expensive lenses from the hard-working hands of female photojournalists. At least that's what the pudgy thug pulled last week in Austin when, after finding no kittens to kick outside a Williamson County Courthouse, promptly went all Kenny Rogers on KXAN news shooter Julie Karam.

"I'm thinking, 'This guy's going to hurt me.' That's how frightened I was. I didn't do anything to deserve it."

Now hang on a second, Julie. You were standing on a city street, pointing a privately-owned news camera at a public official as he skulked out of a tense court proceeding. Mr. Truman had every right to wrestle that delicate camera from your guilty fingers and attempt to berate you into submission. He's upset, see. He and the Missus just haven't been the same since the county took eleven dogs and three cats from their home. If you pesky TV people would simply keep your lenses to yourselves, we wouldn't have these problems. Just ask O.J.

But I digress. What happened last week in Austin was simply this. Apoplexy got the better of Deputy Dawg here; his parking lot tantrum was simply an effort to protect his peeps from any more unwanted publicity. Too bad his intended victim kept rolling. Now, what would have been a fleeting few seconds on the evening news is forever enshrined on the internet, where a universe of busy-bodies can cue up his stupidity whenever the notion strikes them. Schmuck!