Fire chief shot by cop in Ark. court over tickets

[S&WM&P40]

JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.

The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn't enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.

"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department. "They're not providing a service to the citizens."

Now the police chief has disbanded his force "until things calm down," a judge has voided all outstanding police-issued citations and sheriff's deputies are asking where all the money from the tickets went. With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.

"You can't even buy a loaf of bread, but we've got seven police officers," said former resident Larry Harris, who left town because he said the police harassment became unbearable.

Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.

Police often camped out in the department's two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho. Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.

"When I first moved out here, they wrote me a ticket for going 58 mph in my driveway," 75-year-old retiree Albert Beebe said.

The frequent ticketing apparently led to the vandalization of the cruisers, and the department took to parking the cars overnight at the sheriff's department eight miles away.

It was anger over traffic tickets that brought Payne to city hall last week, said his lawyer, Randy Fishman. After Payne failed to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, police gave Payne or his son another ticket that day. Payne, 39, returned to court to vent his anger to Judge Tonya Alexander, Fishman said.

It's unclear exactly what happened next, but Martin said an argument between Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle, ending when an officer shot Payne from behind.

Doctors in Memphis, Tenn., removed a .40-caliber bullet from Payne's hip bone, Martin said. Another officer suffered a grazing wound to his finger from the bullet.

Martin declined to name the officer who shot Payne. It's unclear if the officer has been disciplined.

Prosecutor Lindsey Fairley said Thursday that he didn't plan to file any felony charges against the officer or Payne. Fairley, reached at his home, said Payne could face a misdemeanor charge stemming from the scuffle, but that would be up to the city's judge. He said he didn't remember the name of the officer who fired the shot.

Payne remains in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. He referred questions to his lawyer.

"I know that he was unarmed and I know he was shot," Fishman said. "None of that sounds too good for the city to me."

After the shooting, Martin said police chief Willie Frazier told the sheriff's department he was disbanding the police force "until things calm down." The sheriff's department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.

A call to a city hall number listed as Frazier's went to a fax machine. Frazier did not respond to a written request for comment sent to his office.

Alexander, the judge, has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction — citations that the department apparently had no power to write. Alexander, who works as a lawyer in West Memphis, resigned as Jericho's judge in the aftermath of the shooting, Fairley said. She did not return calls for comment.

Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went. Martin said that it appeared the $150 tickets weren't enough to protect the city's finances. Sheriff's deputies once had to repossess one of the town's police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city's fire trucks because of nonpayment.

City hall has been shuttered since the shooting, and any records of how the money was spent are apparently locked inside. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door on Tuesday.

Mayor Helen Adams declined to speak about the shooting when approached outside her home, saying she had just returned from a doctor's appointment and couldn't talk.

"We'll get with you after all this comes through," Adams said Tuesday before shutting the door.

A white Ford Crown Victoria sat in her driveway with "public property" license plates. A sales brochure advertising police equipment sat in the back seat of the car.

[Oregon Vet]

174 residents and a police force with SEVEN officers? When I grew up, our town had 350+ residents and ONE part-time officer.

Must be part of that "new CHANGE" type thinking. Seven officers, a couple of dispatchers, a Chief of Police and maybe someone to run the jail? Ten or more people spending the publics money and the public gets ... uuuuhhhh, what?? in return?? Harassment in return? Is THAT what they get? That is sure what it looks like.

Let's do some zeros...

174 = 7 officers
1,740 = 70 officers
17,400 = 700 officers
174,000 = 7,000 officers????

Oops, Salem, Oregon has a population of 154,510 (In 2008) AND: The Salem Police Department is currently staffed by 189 sworn police officers and 109.25 civilian employees, whose mission is to respond to the law enforcement and public safety needs of our community. (The .25 must mean they work 10 hours a week)
Hummm, not even 200 sworn officers.

Looks like the Mayor was/is on the "take" too.

Is Jericho, Arkansas part of the United States? They have a bunch of drug dealers there of something? The need all those officers for ... WHAT?

Strange story, that is for sure. Thanks for posting that. Made me laugh, but I feel sorry for the town, EXCEPT, didn't the town people have to VOTE for the police force? Something screwy going on somewhere there.

[Cooter]

Is this a real story?!?! I can't believe what I'm reading!

[S&WM&P40]

Yeah it's a real story it was on the news.


Here is a link to the Fox news ( Memphis ) that has the story as well as video.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news...sst_Fire_Chief

[krazyk]

he deserved it. you should never question authority now bend over and let the government take control .

[tattedupboy]

[QUOTE=krazyk;89753]he deserved it. you should never question authority now bend over and let the government take control .[/QUOT

Are your initials BHO?

[Scarecrow]

wow that is a messed up story...

[PascalFleischman]

Jericho is a do-nothing town with a do-nothing population.

When you give some of those do-nothings a badge and a gummint funded car, they run rampant. I'm less than 45 minutes away, and have never and will never have any reason to pass through Jericho.

What blows my mind is how no charges have been filed.

[iamtheuglyamerican]

Originally Posted by Oregon Vet

174 residents and a police force with SEVEN officers? When I grew up, our town had 350+ residents and ONE part-time officer.

Must be part of that "new CHANGE" type thinking. Seven officers, a couple of dispatchers, a Chief of Police and maybe someone to run the jail? Ten or more people spending the publics money and the public gets ... uuuuhhhh, what?? in return?? Harassment in return? Is THAT what they get? That is sure what it looks like.

Let's do some zeros...

174 = 7 officers
1,740 = 70 officers
17,400 = 700 officers
174,000 = 7,000 officers????

Oops, Salem, Oregon has a population of 154,510 (In 2008) AND: The Salem Police Department is currently staffed by 189 sworn police officers and 109.25 civilian employees, whose mission is to respond to the law enforcement and public safety needs of our community. (The .25 must mean they work 10 hours a week)
Hummm, not even 200 sworn officers.

Looks like the Mayor was/is on the "take" too.

Is Jericho, Arkansas part of the United States? They have a bunch of drug dealers there of something? The need all those officers for ... WHAT?

Strange story, that is for sure. Thanks for posting that. Made me laugh, but I feel sorry for the town, EXCEPT, didn't the town people have to VOTE for the police force? Something screwy going on somewhere there.

No, the police force is hired off the street by the chief who is in turn hired by the mayor (the only one in the equation actually elected. Sadly behavior such as this is the norm for small city police forces in the state of Arkansas.

[AZSATT]

That's a real easy fix.

Just how long do you suppose it would take for the Fire Dept. to respond to a fire at one of those crooked cop's place after one of those crooked cops shot the Fire Chief?!

Even with lights & sirens, I bet they wouldn't dare risk violating the speed limit... get a ticket and/or get shot? No sir!

Little po-dunk towns are supposed to be quiet and peaceful and never on the radar screen. Tiny town, inflated government grant-produced corrupt PD and then the Fire Chief gets shot in court. That's unacceptable. Bill Clinton needs to fix that situation immediately.... oh wait, he's too busy being the Sec. of State for bHo.

Sounds like some Boss Hogg BS to me...