Crime & Public Safety

Man posing as cop pulls over real officer, arrested

By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Oct 15, 2015

A Florida man posing as a law enforcement officer was arrested Friday when he pulled over a real deputy.

Joshua Lynam, 24, was charged with impersonating an officer, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. 

Lynam, who reportedly had red and white flashing lights installed on the front of his Chevrolet Silverado 1500, pulled up behind a deputy in an unmarked vehicle on a Florida interstate.

"(The officer) saw the emergency lights, and he pulled over to the side to let him go by," Sgt. Andrew Hobbs told the Pensacola News Journal. "(Lynam) pulled up behind him, and he pretty much did a traffic stop."

According to Hobbs, the deputy asked Lynam to produce his identification, and Lynam was unable to.

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office says Lynam has conducted similar fake traffic stops in the past.

In 2013, he was arrested for assaulting an officer and interfering with a law enforcement officer. In that incident, Lynam reportedly threatened suicide and also threatened to beat a responding officer with a video game controller.

"Right now, we're trying to figure out if anyone else has had interactions with him," Hobbs said. "People who didn't know he wasn't a deputy, so maybe they didn't call and report it."
Lynam was released from Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

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