Man Arrested for Allegedly Impersonating Police Officer, Pulling Gun After Parking Lot Tiff With Woman
What started out as a small-scale episode of parking lot-style road rage ended up with a Maryland man in jail after he was charged with impersonating a police officer.
The incident took place at about 7:20 p.m. Tuesday at a Walmart on the Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville, a Baltimore suburb, WJZ-TV reported.
Police said the incident began when a woman the police did not identify wanted to enter the lot but was blocked by a vehicle driven by Gregory Sumter, 57, of nearby Lochearn.
The woman honked her horn for him to move, but he did not. Eventually, she gave up and maneuvered her vehicle into the lot around Sumter’s vehicle.
Then the incident escalated, police said.
After she found a parking place, Sumter drove up and in turn blocked her car in its parking space, police said.
Sumter allegedly then showed a badge to the woman and identified himself as a police officer.
The woman also said he threatened her and her children with a gun.
Police: Man Impersonates Officer, Pulls Gun On Woman And Children After Road Rage Incident In Walmart Parking Lot https://t.co/6TKULBOOFM pic.twitter.com/XhkqXUlICS
— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) July 26, 2019
Although a police officer working a second job as a Walmart security officer told police he spoke to Sumter, who denied the accusations against him, police said witnesses came down on the side of the woman, WBAL-TV reported.
Police confiscated a Special Police State of Maryland badge and a loaded revolver.
Sumter now faces charges that include first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, carrying a loaded handgun in a vehicle and impersonating a police officer.
He was being held without bond pending a bail review hearing late Thursday.
According to Baltimore County Officer Jennifer Peach, Sumter said he was retired Special Police and never returned his badge after he retired, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Maryland’s Special Police are allowed to arrest individuals who trespass or commit other crimes and exercise police powers while patrolling a specific property. Special officers are most often used to guard public and private locations.
The Maryland office that grants Special Police powers said individuals need to be 18 and of good moral character.
Peach said police impersonation is rare in Baltimore County, “but it does happen.”
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