The village of Jericho, Arkansas (pop. 174) is home to exactly zero operating businesses, and until recently*, seven police officers and 18 volunteer firefighters. All 18 volunteer firefighters in the village of Jericho, Akransas have resigned in outrage over the shooting of the assistant fire chief on August 27.

Don Payne, the assistant fire chief, had been in court earlier contesting a speeding ticket, and had returned to contest a ticket issued to his son. Payne was upset (and it seems rightly so) about the traffic tickets; the Jericho PD was well-known for their ticket-writing propensity, even going so far as to write tickets where they had no jurisdiction to do so:

[Judge Tonya Alexander (who has since resigned)] 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.

That day, all seven Jericho police officers were in court. Some accounts indicate that the officers were upset because the judge was dismissing many of the tickets and everyone seems to agree that Payne was visibly upset, but what happened — well, that’s when shit got weird.

One of the police officers shot Payne in the back.

Take a minute and let that sink in.

There is no reason, whatsoever, for any of the thugs in uniform to have drawn on Payne that day. He was outnumbered seven-to-one and presumably outgunned seven-to-none. Aside from treating all firearms as if they are always loaded and ready to fire, the most important rule of firearm safety is DO NOT POINT A WEAPON AT ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY. That a weapon was trained on Payne, and subsequently discharged, speaks volumes about the Jericho PD.

The Police Department has since been disbanded (good riddance to bad rubbish) and the County Sheriff has assumed jurisdiction.

*Update: (9/24/2009) This report suggests that the Police Department in Jericho is back on duty, or at least “back on duty” enough to act as security detail for the Mayor, keeping those pesky news reporters away. The report also indicates that an arrest warrant has been issued for former assistant fire chief, Don Payne, for “felony battery” of a police officer.

There is special place in hell for bastards like this