Man Posing As Cop Arrested After Stopping Real Officer

By Editorial Staff in News On 20th October 2015
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#1 Joshua Lynam arrested in Florida posing as police officer,

Joshua Dwayne Lynam, 24, was arrested Friday on charges of 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 truck, pulled behind a deputy in an unmarked vehicle on Interstate 110 near Airport Boulevard.

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#2 Joshua Dwayne Lyman: BUSTED!

After flashing his lights for the vehicle to stop, the driver of the car pulled over, and 24-year-old Lynam, from Milton, Fla., pulled behind it, got out, and addressed the driver, Sgt. Andrew Hobbs.

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#3 Flashing lights were mounted on his truck.

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

Hobbs said after a few minutes, the deputy asked Lynam to produce his identification, and he could not. So the arrest on the fake officer was made.

#4 Sgt. Andrew Hobbs said he "pulled over the wrong guy tonight."

The next thing that Lynam knows, the person he pulled over puts cuffs on him.

Lynam was playing fake cop using real lights, and he just happened to "pull over" an actual Sheriff's Deputy from Escambia County who just happened to be driving an unmarked car.

#5 Prior Incidents By This Fake Cop

There have been numerous "fake cop" stops recently in the same area, and people are terrified that a cop could be an imposter and do some harm. Although nothing egregious happened during this "traffic stop," the Sheriff's Office believes that Lynam has played fake cop before.

"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."

#6 Lynam's Truck.. A gold Chevrolet tricked out with flashing lights.

Lynam drives a gold Chevrolet 1500 King Cab pickup truck with Florida license plate number 869-UBN and red and white lights in the grill.

Lynam has been released from Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond. He had a 2013 arrest in Santa Rosa County for assault on an officer and interfering with a law enforcement officer using violence.

In that incident, Lynam had reportedly threatened suicide, then threatened to beat a responding officer with a video game controller if he turned off Lynam's computer.

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#7 Playing Fake Cop Is Illegal… Buying Real Cop Equipment Is Not…

Playing fake cop is obviously illegal, and every state restricts the use of red, white, and blue flashing lights. Since using lights is restricted, it logically follows that the buying and selling of lights and other gear used exclusively by police, fire, and rescue personnel should also be illegal, but it's not.

#8 Anyone can purchase authentic police gear online.

In fact, a quick search in Google shows thousands of companies selling official gear en masse, and anyone can go to Amazon right now and buy a police light bar for any car. Other sites are selling handcuffs, badges, and even weapons.

This haul was recently found on the Ebay site for sale. It was later removed from the pages.