I'm not doubting your word but I've never heard of that happening. That said, individual Baptist churches are autonomous and can do pretty much what they want concerning their own church. I'm thinking that members of the church you mentioned might have been looking to get rid of the Pastor and saw that as a convenient but cowardly way to do it.
I don’t know the background of why that happened, I just know it was a “Baptist” church. I am aware that a lot of churches have the name Baptist and many are independent, but that is the reason he gave us when he told us his story. I had never heard of that before or since. This was 25 years ago.