A cop impersonator was arrested in Florida after he pulled over a real officer, police said.
Matthew Michael Lee McMahon, 20, was pretending to be on the job when he flashed his red and blue lights to signal another car in front of him to pull over on a St. Johns County road, First Coast News reported. Unbeknownst to McMahon, the unmarked car he signaled belonged to Detective Chance Anderson of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
"I pulled over to confront the individual. At which point, he pulled up next to me. Kind of gave me the 'slow down' look and pointed this finger at me," Anderson, a cop of 10 years, told FCN.
The fake cope was arrested and charged with unlawfully displaying police lights.
McMahon was sitting behind the wheel of a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor on International Golf Parkway at around 8:30 p.m. when he signaled at Anderson.
Confused by the signal, Anderson pulled over to see who had the guts to stop a police officer.
"I was shocked to, number one, see somebody affecting a traffic stop on me," Anderson told FCN. "We are a rather large department, but I still know a majority of our law enforcement officers."
But when Anderson pulled his unmarked car over, McMahon sped off. Anderson pursued the situation and conducted a traffic stop on the alleged cop, which resulted in McMahon giving several excuses for why he had police lights.
McMahon was sent to the St. Johns County jail where he is being held on $5,500 bond.
Anderson, whose job includes investigating cop impersonators, told FCN this is the first time he was pulled over by a fake officer.
McMahon's arrest comes less than two months after Colorado police arrested a man they say pretended to be a cop and scarred off two women.
