JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A military veteran’s skepticism helped police track down an accused fake law enforcement officer.
Police arrested Willie Ramp, 32, on Tuesday on multiple charges including impersonating a law enforcement officer.
The encounter happened near Interstate 295 and Collins Road.
As soon as Derrick Bell, a military veteran, saw blue flashing lights behind him, he became skeptical about the car that was trying to pull him over. He began questioning the driver and took pictures with his phone.
Fortunately, he saw a JSO officer nearby who helped capture the accused police imposter.
“I just noticed right off the top that these weren’t regular police cars,” Bell said. “The front windshield was completely black. You couldn’t see in the car, like at all.”
Bell said he was on the Westside on Tuesday when two cars that looked like undercover police cars drove up next to him. Bell said he heard a siren and saw blue flashing lights coming from Ramp’s car.
“I started slowing down thinking it was a cop so I put my hand down and I was like are you going to stop me or not I’m not speeding or anything, I’m just going to pull over,” Bell said.
He said Ramp then drove up beside him.
“I threw my hand out the window and said let me see your badge and he didn’t show me his badge,” Bell said.
One of the cars took off but Bell got behind Ramp and took a photo of the black Chevy Impala he was driving before they both eventually pulled over.
“I got out of my car, stood beside my truck and I’m looking at him like get out of the car, get out of the car bro, so he didn’t get out of the car and he took off,” he said.
Bell flagged down police who caught up to Ramp and took him into custody.
According to the arrest report, Ramp asked officers, “will this ruin my chances of being a State Trooper?”
Bell said as he watched Ramp get arrested he noticed there were two children in car seats in the back of the fake police car.
“He had two kids in the car all while doing this so that’s what touched me the most because they saw their father getting arrested too,” Bell said.
Bell said the other car that was also posing as law enforcement was not found so that driver is still on the run.
News4Jax Crime and Safety expert Ken Jefferson said if you feel like you are being pulled over by a fake officer, Call 911 and pull over in a well-lit area with people around and tell dispatch where you are and they can confirm if you are being pulled over by a legitimate officer.