Ex-Cop Killed Attacking Blogger's Hot Dog Cart

Little Rock man says former officer was setting car ablaze
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 20, 2014 2:43 PM CDT
Ex-Cop Killed Attacking Blogger's Hot Dog Cart
   (Shutterstock)

An anti-corruption blogger in Little Rock, Arkansas, may be in hot water after killing a man who set his hot dog cart on fire, Raw Story reports. Ean Bordeaux says he awoke early Friday morning to find his cart—which he runs for a living—in flames outside. He ran out to smother the fire and saw a man running away, so he called the police. Then the stranger returned, apparently to re-light the fire. "I see a masked white man—and this is the hood, so I don't know what masked white men are doing in the ghetto," Bordeaux told Arkansas Matters.

Bordeaux tackled the man, who fell face-first on the pavement and later died. Bordeaux identified him right away as Todd Payne, a former police officer who served 20 years before being fired in 2010 for several violations, including fleeing the scene of a DUI crash, intimidating witnesses, and lying to superiors. What's more, Bordeaux had written about Payne (and even called him "Creepy Todd") on his blog. In fact, police say the two had worked in the same area and disagreed about things before, KATV reports. Now authorities have released Bordeaux without charges while the county prosecutor reviews the case—which Bordeaux says is straightforward. "Why would I want someone to die?" he said. "I want justice and justice doesn't require someone to die." (More police officer stories.)

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