Incident at Tuco's Taco Tarp

Thursday night erupted in a confusion of apparent gunfire and sparks as a sign at Tuco’s Taco Tarp dislodged itself, slightly injuring one. Eyewitnesses say that the sign, which sits atop the popular eatery, seemed to be spinning unusually fast, and that it appeared to become momentarily unstable before lifting off from the roof.
“It was going really, really fast,” said eleven-year-old Shauna O’Tree, who was out to dinner with her parents and little brother. “We come here all the time, but I’ve never seen it like that.”
Her father, Darryl O’Tree, added, “I always said something was gonna happen with that thing; it never seemed right, the way it was spinning like that.”
The sign features a likeness of a bandito, wearing a large sombrero and firing a six-shooter. It often spins so fast that observers can’t make out exactly what it is.
Various accounts give this description of what transpired Thursday: As early evening diners entered the restaurant, the spinning sign began making unusual noises, accompanied by the gunfire as usual. When people looked up, they noticed that the whole thing appeared to be wobbling. Before anyone had a chance to react, the bandito flew off the roof, still spinning, and hit the asphalt of the parking lot, where it continued to skitter across the ground.
“I guess the thing was going so fast, it just couldn’t stop,” said Brainard Taylor, in town from Houston to visit his brother. “When it came down on the parking lot, it just kind of kept going, like a top.”
The sign then slightly struck a man in a wheelchair, who was waiting outside the neighboring pizzeria. It upset his chair, making it roll partway down a grassy embankment, where it tipped over. The man and the sign ended up only a few feet apart, and the sound effects that created the noise of a six-shooter continued unabated, as well as the recorded message that played from inside the bandito.

Julius Aswallo, the man in the wheelchair, said that he’d been waiting outside the pizzeria for a small pizza, but that the store did not have the right size box for a small order.
“They had boxes for the large and medium pizzas, but they told me they ain’t had no more for the little ones, so they was going to try to make up a special [box] but that I’d have to wait a little on account they was real busy.” He was helped up the hill by patrons returning to their cars in the parking lot, while the sign still made snapping noises and continued to spark a little.
“I didn’t know nothing like this was gonna happen,” said Mr. Aswallo, who appeared uninjured but said he would not be returning if the sign were put back on the roof.
“That thing ain’t never was right,” he said, shaking his head and looking at the roof where the sign had rocketed onto the parking lot.

John Againagin, an official with the county office that issues permits for signs, said he was unaware of any problems associated with the Tuco’s Taco Tarp sign, but said that all signs were required to have permits and had to be installed in a way that was acceptable under the agency’s requirements. He said that he would make sure that the sign was properly permitted, and look into the accident to ensure that the business owner takes proper precautions in the future. “Occasionally you’ll have a sign fall over in a high wind,” he said, “but this is the first I know of where one came off and kind of kept going.”