DELTONA, Fla. — A former Miami-Dade police officer was arrested in Volusia County after he told deputies he was working with law enforcement while using his old badge and credentials to impersonate an officer, WFLA reported.
The suspect was taken into custody on Sept. 22, after deputies responded to a call about a suspicious man parked in a driveway in Deltona. The caller reported the man was asking about a young girl.
| DOWNLOAD: Field ready training: A police trainer’s guide to reduce risk, improve performance
Body camera footage shows a deputy approaching the suspect in the driveway.
“Who are you?” the deputy can be heard asking.
“We’re from Miami-Dade, but we’re on the Marshal task force,” the suspect answered.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the man told deputies he was a Miami-Dade police officer working with the U.S. Marshals in search of a missing girl whose phone had pinged in the area.
When asked for an ID, the man held up a badge. The deputy then asked to see an ID card. The suspect provided a photo of an ID on his phone.
The suspect stated the girl he was searching for “runs from the cops” and that he was in an unmarked vehicle because she hadn’t been “officially” reported missing.
“She keeps on pinging everywhere,” the man told the deputy.
Deputies discovered that the suspect had been fired earlier this year from the Miami-Dade Police Department, according to the report. He was arrested later that day on a warrant for impersonating a law enforcement officer.
“What did I do?” the suspect can be heard asking as he was placed in handcuffs.
“Google my name. I got officer of the year and everything,” he added, referring to a 2020 commendation for bravery after being shot while apprehending a suspect wanted for domestic battery.
Following his arrest, the suspect told deputies he showed his former badge and ID “out of habit” and “by mistake,” according to the report. He also stated he had accidentally identified himself as a police officer.
Detectives now believe the suspect may have been working in the area as a private investigator on an insurance-related case, according to the report. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on one count of impersonating a police officer and was released after posting $2,000 bond.
