Florida man charged with impersonating an officer after allegedly pulling over off-duty Orlando cop

A Florida man accused of impersonating a police officer wound up in handcuffs himself this week, accused of pulling over an off-duty Orlando cop in March, local reports said.

The 40-year-old Omar Forde allegedly told investigators he was on his way home from his security guard job when he saw another car he thought was swerving with an impaired driver, according to Orlando-based WKMG-TV.

“The gentleman flew past me, and his car danced,” Forde said in a conversation recorded with a Casselberry police officer’s bodycam. “So I thought he might have been intoxicated.”

Forde’s company, he told police, is named “Criminal Task Force,” the outlet reported. That name was on his vest, and he wore a badge, a gun and a Taser, authorities said.

“A citizen would mistake this all day for a law enforcement officer,” one of the Casselberry cops told Forde in the video, referring to his white SUV, uniform and other accouterments.

Forde reportedly told police he pulled alongside the off-duty officer’s blue BMW to say something. Then, when the BMW driver asked if he was being pulled over, Forde told authorities he told the man to slow down.

But the officer then got behind Forde’s car, flashed his own lights and they stopped together farther down the road, according to local reports.

The officer, identified by Orlando-based WFTV as Zachary Price, called 911.

“When [Forde] tried to stop [the officer], he could look over and see,” Casselberry police Capt. William Nas said in a news conference. “And 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 [state] trooper, so he called us right away to get this person stopped and questioned.”

Casselberry police arrived and said they found Forde did not have a valid driver’s license, according to local reports.

He was charged with impersonating an officer, driving with a suspended license, and has been released after posting a bond.

Forde has denied having tried to impersonate an officer.

via: https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-charged-impersonating-officer-pulling-over-orlando-cop

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