A recently fired Fulton County Sheriff’s Office employee is in jail after officials accused him of impersonating a law enforcement officer.
Royalle Allen Bowman, 35, of Muscogee County, was arrested after telling a Georgia State Patrol officer he was a Fulton employee and showing a badge, despite the fact he was fired from the agency.
The incident started just after 8 p.m. Friday when a GSP trooper pulled over Bowman’s 2019 Chevrolet Impala on I-85 near mile marker 51, the agency confirmed to AJC.com. The trooper said Bowman was driving 93 mph in a 70-mph zone.
During a conversation with the trooper, Bowman pulled out an identification card that had his photo on an official Fulton County sheriff’s badge, GSP said. He told the trooper he was a Fulton deputy and served as a jailer.
The trooper asked Bowman to get out of the car after smelling a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming out of the vehicle.” Officials said Bowman refused, saying the trooper was violating his 13th Amendment rights. The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery.
After another patrol unit arrived, Bowman got out of the car. The troopers determined he was not under the influence of alcohol.
Officials in the Fulton sheriff’s office told GSP that Bowman was no longer an employee and had recently been fired but had kept his badge.
According to the GSP trooper, while Bowman was being arrested he started screaming that he was a Clayton County police officer. However, the Clayton police department said Bowman was not an employee and was still in the hiring stage.
“It was determined Bowman was not employed as a law enforcement officer at any location,” GSP said.
Bowman was taken to the Coweta County jail. In addition to impersonating an officer, he is charged with speeding and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, GSP said. His badge was taken and returned to the Fulton sheriff’s office.
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