Miami-Dade police have launched an investigation after one of their own allegedly terrorized a Florida couple at gunpoint in the parking lot of their apartment complex for seemingly no reason, local outlets report.
The incident began when a man in a white car with police lights pulled over the male victim just outside his home, WSVN reported Sept. 20. “I see lights, and I’m like in shock,” the husband told the outlet.
The officer, who was allegedly dressed like a policeman, directed the husband to roll down his car windows and threatened to “drop” him if he did not comply, WSVN reported. The husband followed cop’s orders, but the cop then got out of his car with a gun pointed at the husband and told him, “I’m going to kill you,” according to the outlet.
“When I step outside I saw my husband already taking off his shirt, putting his hands up, saying ‘I’m no threat, I have no weapons, if you’re gonna shoot me, shoot me then,'” the husband’s wife, identified as Yarny, told NBC6. She said she feared the cop would shoot her husband anyway and reacted by clapping and asking the officer what he was doing.
A South Florida couple said a man claiming to be a police officer terrorized them with a gun, and now they’re wondering if he was impersonating a law enforcement official. https://t.co/IcWyKjK1OM
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) September 21, 2023
The couple’s elderly neighbor also claimed to have witnessed the tense interaction and told WSVN she thought the cop would shoot her neighbor. (RELATED: Ohio Sheriff’s Office Says Someone Is Going Around Pretending To Be Police Officer, Trying To Lure Women Into Car)
Yarny then ran down the stairs towards the confrontation, according to WSVN. She tried to start filming the incident but the officer reacted by covering his face, putting his weapon away and going back into his car, the outlet reported. Yarny managed to take a video of the officer’s car driving off.
The couple initially thought the man threatening them had been impersonating a cop, according to WSVN, and reports originally circulated alleging the same thing. However, Miami-Dade police officers later confirmed the man in question is an officer in their department, the outlet reported.
“The Miami-Dade Police Department is aware of this incident and it is being investigated by the Professional Compliance Bureau,” the department said in a statement cited by NBC6. “In addition, if anyone is being stopped by an unmarked police vehicle, and has any doubt of the validity of the officer, we encourage you contact 911 and provide your location so the police dispatcher can confirm that in fact it is a police officer. The safety of our community is our primary concern.”
“This person is a concern to the community, he’s definitely a threat, he’s dangerous, he has a badge, he’s driving a county MDPD vehicle, also he has a weapon,” Yarny told the outlet.
While a police impersonation reportedly did not occur in this instance, such illegal activity has occurred elsewhere in 2023. An 18-year-old was arrested for allegedly impersonating a police officer in Michigan after he pulled over a real officer back in April.