Pine Bluff off-duty officer's drunken crash into landmark jewelry store triggers immediate termination from PBPD
- Dennis McCaslin
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
A Pine Bluff police officer was fired this week after he got drunk at an off-duty gathering, climbed into his marked patrol car, and crashed it at over 100 mph straight through the front of the historic Sissy's Log Cabin jewelry store on South Camden Road.
The wreck happened around 1:02 a.m. Thursday, November 20. Surveillance video shows Officer Xavier Higgins, 42, blowing through a stop sign on Faucette Road, crossing Camden Road, and plowing the Dodge Charger directly into the iconic log storefront.
The car came to rest halfway inside the building, causing roughly $500,000 in damage and totaling the cruiser.
Higgins, who has been with the department since 2015, recorded a .17 blood-alcohol level—more than twice the legal limit—when fellow officers arrived. No one was inside the store at the time, a fact store manager Raul Travino called “a blessing from God.”
Had it been during business hours, the outcome could have been deadly.
Interim Pine Bluff Police Chief Shirley Warrior announced Higgins’ immediate termination the same day, citing the extreme danger to the public and the fact that Higgins was already on probation for a previous pursuit-policy violation earlier this year
Sissy’s Log Cabin, a Pine Bluff institution since 1972 famous for Arkansas diamonds and its namesake rustic charm, is closed until repairs are complete.
Owner Sissy Hargrove posted on social media that the store’s spirit is “unbroken” and thanked the community for an outpouring of support. A crowdfunding page has already raised more than $25,000 to help with rebuilding.
Higgins faces charges of DWI, careless and prohibited driving, and running a stop sign.
He is scheduled to appear in court on December 4.
