In the latest instance of a type of event that seems to happen with enough frequency to make you wonder if you've ever been pulled over by an impostor, a Florida security guard was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly impersonated a policeman in order to issue a warning/ticket for speeding. As has also been the case, again, multiple times in the past, the man was found out because he pulled over an actual officer who was off-duty at the time.
Anyone reading this and pulling a similar con, continue the charade at your own risk.
According to local media, the eventually arrested man (Omar Forde) was driving home from work when the incident occurred. He told authorities that he was passed on the road by a swerving vehicle.
“The gentleman flew past me, and his car danced,” Forde said in footage from an arresting officer's bodycam. “So I thought he might have been intoxicated.”
As a result, Forde is said to have tried to pull alongside the car to tell the driver of the car to slow down. That driver, later identified as real officer Zachary Prince, flashed his own lights and asked Forde if he was being pulled over. They both stopped their cars further down the road.
“Since he’s a policeman himself, he knows about the uniforms and jurisdictions, and he knew it wasn’t a Casselberry or Seminole County or trooper, so he called us right away to get this person stopped and questioned,” said police Capt. William Nas, when speaking of Prince, at a press conference,
Forde looked enough like a cop that he probably wouldn't have sent out any red flags to non-police. He was wearing a vest donning the name of his place of work, "Criminal Task Force," and was also openly carrying a taser, badge, and gun.
Body cam footage of the incident reportedly captured officers on scene as saying that ordinary citizens “would mistake this all day for a law enforcement officer.”
Forde was charged with impersonating an officer and driving with a suspended license, the latter relating to him not having a valid license.
He has denied these charges and has been released on bond.
