HOUSTON (KTRK) -- One Liberty County man calls it "fist justice." When he walked into his backyard and saw a would-be burglar, the homeowner used the first thing he could find to defend his property: his hands.



That homeowner has a message for other would-be thieves: "You steal, you die." Authorities don't necessarily agree with what he did, but they admit property owners sometimes have to do what they have to do.

Things have been pretty rough for a different Liberty County man this week. He started out as a burglary suspect, but ended up a hospital patient.


On Tuesday, a teenager came home from school to find her home ransacked with a busted back door . Then she noticed the burglar walking into her dad's backyard shop. She called 911 and her dad, 6' 8" Israel Palmer.

Working down the road, he was home in four minutes.

"I was going over a hundred miles an hour from my job site to my house," said Palmer.

When he pulled up, Derrick Ford, 20, was standing near his shop with a bag full of Palmer's stuff.

"I wasn't thinking about me. I was thinking about my daughter, but I was scared that he was going to do something," said Palmer.

So with a burglary suspect standing in his yard with his belongings, there was no need for introductions. Palmer simply deployed some bare-knuckle justice.

"I punched him just like this. Just like that," said Palmer.

That's when Ford found himself flat on the ground staring at the Texas sky with Palmer on top of him.

"While he was trying to knee me from the ground on up, I was trying to hold him down. Then I did several punches to his ribs and then a couple more to his head," said Palmer.

That was probably the last thing young Ford remembers from his alleged burglary of the Palmer's residence.

"He was out and asleep the whole time cops were here until they life-flighted him out," said Palmer.

It turns out Palmer's knuckles may have just busted up a small burglary ring.

"All these houses here have been broken into. Most of these houses have been broken into," said Palmer.

Cpl. Hugh Bishop of the Liberty County Sheriff's Office elaborated that Ford "has told us there are additional incidents that his is responsible for and we are trying to tie these together."

There's a twist here. Ford lives just a few blocks away.

"He lives right about a hundred yards from my house," said Palmer.

Palmer says he is not proud about what he did, but he stresses that there is no excuse for stealing, not even the recession.

"Yes, times are hard, but if you have to go flip a hamburger, so be it," said Palmer.

Ford was downgraded from critical to serious condition and he is now stable at Memorial Hermann Hospital. After his near-death experience at Palmer's place, he is now cooperating with investigators and we are told more arrests may follow.

Palmer, by the way, says he was able to recover most of his belongings.


Source - http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6743011





We need more people like this dude in teh world!!!!

Oh and here I thought I was going to read a sexy fisting story.

......

Fisting is in NO WAY sexy.

I'm sorry.

But fists do not belong up people's....rear ends or in the feminine genitalia.

They do belong in the faces of burglars though.

i totally thought that before i read it too ;D

Unfortunately, depending on the state, the would-be burglar may have grounds for a lawsuit. Yeah, it's happened, and the burglar won (he fell on a knife while robbing an old woman's home), and he won. Frankly, IMO, they deserve what they get while breaking the law.

I have heard of that nonsense, too. One story was of a burgalar who broke the window in someone's garage to get inside and cut himself climbing through. He sued the homeowner and won. I think its wrong that they could sue like that....they had NO right to break the window or climb through it with intent to steal someone else's belongings.

I don't understand how any judge in his or her right mind could allow such a thing.

Or jury for that matter... Why would anyone award a burglar for such a thing? He/she shouldn't have been there in the first place.

love it. people in liberty don't play. hahaha

damn straight! Cant wait to get back to TX this summer where you have a right to defend your family and whatnot

welcome home. haha

TY.. Wont get there until mid june, but like I said, I cannot wait. My girls are excited too.

Plus - we're building a house!!

fuck yeah.

dude was protecting his property. I would have done the same, if not me my dad would have.

He probably makes Chuck Norris proud.

Oops, forgot to add, When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he checks under his bed for this dude....

Epic win.

this story was badass. lol

Lol That was awesome.

He a single dad? ;)

HAHA that kid got what he deserves. This story is awesome. It doesn't beat the one where the old woman held the robber at gun point and made him call the police on himself. ;D I don't think anything can top that one.

My dad once spotted a kid trying to break into his car. He held the kid in a headlock while the police were called. xD Not as spectacular or dramatic as an array of punches, but pretty cool to six-year-old me nonetheless.