An Oklahoma judge was arrested in Austin, Texas, last week after authorities say he opened fire on parked vehicles while out driving, striking at least one of them, and intentionally crashed into a woman’s vehicle, telling officers later that she had cut him off.

Brian Lovell, an associate district judge in Garfield County, Oklahoma, was arrested Sept. 11 on a misdemeanor count of reckless driving. A felony count of engaging in deadly conduct with a firearm was forwarded to a grand jury for consideration.

Lovell was released on $10,000 bond and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.

  • Afrazzle@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Driving in the states must be nerve wracking knowing there’s a good chance any given car on the road is armed.

    • max@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      And that there are no proper driving lessons or exams like in some European countries.

      • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        some European countries.

        Wait wait wait. Are you saying that some, as in more than one, Euro county doesn’t have a licensing exam? Iirc, Texas is the only state without one over here and they’re notably worse drivers than everyone else I encounter.

        • max@feddit.nl
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          1 year ago

          Not sure about that, specifically. I do know that some countries (e.g., The Netherlands) have way stricter exams than for instance Hungary.

        • Etterra@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The sad truth of it is, because of the way our, that is to say America’s, cities and infrastructure are all laid out, it’s almost impossible to live in this country without a car. Consequently, they’ll give a driver’s license to damn near anybody who can operate the pedals, regardless of the State. Passing the eye exam is usually more important than the driving or written ones.

        • tuwwut@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          Wait what? Texas definitely has both a written exam and a driving test. Is it more extensive in other states or something?

          Eta: Texas doesn’t require you to take a driver’s ed course if you’re over 18 years old, but you still have to pass both the written exam and driving test. Maybe that’s what you were remembering?