Texas Judge Flagged for|Ribbing ‘Johnny Football’

DALLAS (CN) - A Texas judge put himself in hot water with a Facebook post admonishing Heisman Trophy-winner Johnny Manziel for a speeding ticket pending in the judge's court.

W. Lee Johnson, a municipal judge for the City of Ennis, did not explicitly name Manziel as the subject of his post last week, but he wrote: "Too funny. So it seems that a certain unnamed (very) recent Heisman Trophy winner from a certain unnamed 'college' down south of here got a gift from the Ennis P.D. while he was speeding on the 287 bypass yesterday. It appears that even though the OU defense couldn't stop him, the City of Ennis P.D. is a different story altogether. Time to grow up/slow down young 'un. You got your whole life/career ahead of you. Gig Em indeed."

Seven minutes later, Johnson added: "I meant to say 'allegedly' speeding, my bad."

In between the two posts is a "thumbs up" sign and the words: "9 people like this."

The post has been removed from Facebook.

Ennis City Manager Steve Howerton apologized for the judge's post on Friday, calling it "insensitive and inappropriate."

Howerton told WFAA-TV, which first reported the incident, that it is under investigation.

"Receiving a traffic ticket is not a humorous matter," Howerton said, according to The Associated Press. "Further, it is not the policy of the City of Ennis to indiscriminately publish the identity of traffic ticket recipients or to publicly lecture them."

Johnson has an "unblemished record" of public service for 25 years and reached out to Manziel to apologize, Howerton told WFAA.

Manziel, 20, of Kerrville, had been in the national spotlight even before winning the Heisman in December. Known as Johnny Football, the freshman quarterback was criticized for a summer 2012 arrest for fighting near a College Station bar near the Texas A&M campus.

Ennis is about 30 miles south of Dallas and 140 miles north of Texas A&M University, College Station.

Follow @davejourno

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