An Arkansas deputy was fired after a video surfaced online showing him pretending to point a loaded gun at someone while yelling the N-word while he was off-duty.
Sheriff Nick Gault with the Yell County Sheriff’s Department released a statement on Facebook that one of their deputy sheriffs was seen on a video “engaging in reckless and dangerous actions with what appears to be a loaded firearm” while using “obscene and racist language.”
The department did not name the deputy or release the video with the statement.
KLRT Reporter Neal Zeringue identified the now-fired cop as Jaxon Arndt, who was a new hire at the sheriff’s department. Arndt reportedly graduated from a law enforcement training academy in April 2025 following a 13-week-long program.
According to KARK and Zeringue, the video that circulated online showed Arndt in the passenger seat of a truck, pointing a handgun at the floor between his feet and telling an imaginary person, “Get ready for ole police academy training. Get down you f—in n—r! Stop resisting.”
The sheriff’s office said that once they learned about the video and its contents, they took immediate action and terminated the deputy.
“We strive to provide an effective and community-driven service to Yell County residents,” Gault wrote. “Behaviors such as these are not acceptable and will not be tolerated from those in our employ. Actions of this nature are entirely counterproductive to the public trust and support we hold dear.”
Gault stated that the office will also enroll its deputies in mandatory training covering racial discrimination and appropriate social media behaviors.
“We hope to continue to provide the best law enforcement service possible to our communities, far from the actions exhibited in this video,” Gault stated.
Yell County is located in western Arkansas, roughly 100 miles west of Little Rock.
