When Animals County Officials Attack

An employee of the Travis County sheriff’s department attacked a photojournalist yesterday after leaving a Williamson County court hearing for animal cruelty charges.

Mike Truman, a security coordinator, no less, for the department and his wife were facing charges of animal cruelty after animal control had to remove 11 dogs and 3 cats from their house.

KXAN photog Julie Karam was at the couple’s house attempting to get footage of the accused, when Truman decided to go all-Kenny Rogers (the short-tempered baseball pitcher, not the chicken roaster) on her. Karam had her camera rolling and recorded the entire assault.

"He grabs a hold of this (the viewfinder), grabs a hold of my camera and yanks it down over my shoulder," Karam said. "I'm thinking, 'This guy's going to hurt me.' That's how frightened I was. I didn't do anything to deserve it. Nobody deserves to be manipulated, prodded and touched in that way."

According to an unidentified neighbor of Truman’s, the couple has had a history of problems with the folks at animal control.

"The animal control people keeps coming to their house, taking all of their animals, and they keep getting them back," the neighbor said.

The Travis County sheriff’s department appears to be doing the right thing and is investigating the incident.

"We are awaiting charges from the Round Rock Police Department, but the investigation into his employment starts now."

In the meantime, Karam is filing charges with the Round Rock Police Department. We imagine Truman will be fired and have to either pay the victim some money or do some serious community service.

*Image (c) scubadive67 on Flickr.