Posted on 08/07/2004 3:30:43 AM PDT by dadburn
D'IBERVILLE - A dispute over a parking spot at Wal-Mart could cost a man six months in jail and a $500 fine.
At least, that's the penalty for conviction of impersonating a police officer, a misdemeanor charge authorities have filed on a warrant for the man's arrest.
Charles K. Edmonson, 38, is accused of pretending to be an officer and threatening to arrest a woman who took the parking spot he wanted Tuesday, said Harrison County Sheriff's Capt. Ron Pullen. Investigators obtained a warrant Friday for Edmonson's arrest.
It is the second report of faux cops in Harrison County this week. On Thursday, a couple claiming to be New Orleans police officers showed a badge and took a Biloxi woman's cash.
The victim from Wal-Mart told deputies she pulled into a parking spot and a man got out of a green 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, identified himself as a police officer and told her she was under arrest. The man was not wearing a uniform and didn't show a badge.
"He walked around to the back of her car with his cell phone and acted like he was calling in her tag number to a dispatch center," said Pullen.
The man walked away without saying anything else, parked elsewhere and entered the store. The woman wrote down his tag number, MS 357-JJB, and contacted the Sheriff's Department. Authorities didn't release her name.
"We ran a license check, showed her a photo line-up of pictures and she identified him," said Pullen.
Edmonson's last known address is in Pascagoula. Anyone with information about him is asked to call the Harrison County Sheriff's Department at 897-1364 or the nearest law enforcement agency.
Citizens can confirm an officer's identity by asking to see their badge and their credentials or by calling authorities, said Pullen.
Credentials refer to an identification card with the officer's picture, the agency's name and the signature of the police chief, sheriff or Highway Patrol official. The card is about the size of a credit card.
I live in the 'burbs outside of Portland, OR.
The WalMart closest to me is 40 minutes away in Woodburn, OR.
I like WalMart, but not THAT much. ;o)
Big cities don't cotton to WalMart.
They play havoc with traffic and such.
and you couldn't out run her?
Better get in shape?
But was the woman required to give her name to the person pretending to be a policeman?
I meekly waved my receipt and she said. "At least you know who's boss, girlie man!"
I'm gonna get even with her, though. I'm gonna sneak up behind her next time and give her a "wedgie."
I'm tired of getting beaten up by blue hairs at Wal-Mart. (not my first time)
The individual should have registered in one of the many chapters of the Citizen's Auxiliary Police; Mr. Jay Santos is the recruiting officer.
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