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Fla. Man Impersonating Officer Pulls Over Unmarked Sheriff's Car

Not the wisest of moves: A man impersonating a police officer in Florida signals a real sheriff's detective driving an unmarked car to pull over.

WESH in Orlando reports that the suspect, 20-year-old Matthew Lee McMahon, "activated a red and blue light Monday while driving behind an unmarked county sheriff's car."

"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," sheriff's detective Chance Anderson told First Coast News about the incident in St. Augustine.

"I was shocked to, No. 1, see somebody affecting a traffic stop on me," Anderson said. "We are a rather large department, but I still know a majority of our law enforcement officers."

Ironically, Chance's work on the force includes catching people impersonating law enforcement officers, he told FCN, adding that in a decade on the job, no one pretending to be law enforcement had ever had the bad judgment to pull him over.

The Associated Press says McMahon is charged with impersonating an officer and unlawfully displaying blue lights. He's been released on $5,500 bail.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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