Does this sound familiar? Will the WPS be soon shooting Winnipeggers that don't agree with their ticket-writing preoccupation?
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERICHO, Ark. -- It was too much, returning to court twice in one day to contest a traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police speed traps.
The cops' response? 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.
"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, of the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department.
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 the ticket money went.
With 174 residents, the city has seven officers but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.
POLICE FORCE GRANT
Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received a grant to run a police force, Martin said.
Police camped out in cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 75 km/h zone ringing Jericho.
Residents say the ticketing got out of hand. "They wrote me a ticket for going (95 km/h) in my driveway," 75-year-old Albert Beebe said.
After failing to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, fire chief Payne, 39, returned to court. There was a scuffle between Payne and the seven police officers, ending when a shot injured Payne.
Mayor Helen Adams declined comment, saying she had just returned from a doctor's visit and couldn't talk.