Left: Paul Fluty (Volusia County Corrections). Right: The man identified as Fluty shows a deputy a badge in Deltona, Fla. (Volusia County Sheriff”s Office).
A Florida man was arrested this week for impersonating a police officer by using an old badge, Sunshine State law enforcement say.
Paul Fluty, 39, stands accused of falsely personating an officer, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office records.
The incident occurred this week at a residential driveway in Deltona – a large city located roughly 30 miles north of Orlando. Deputies made contact while Fluty was in the driver’s seat of a parked vehicle, according to a press release issued by the sheriff’s office.
When approached by a deputy, the man identified as the defendant said he was part of a “task force,” body-worn camera footage shows.
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In the video, Fluty appears to show the deputy a physical badge as well as an image of his police ID card on his cellular phone.
The defendant allegedly told a tale of trying to locate a missing girl who “keeps on pinging” somewhere “within a 3-block radius.”
Fluty allegedly said the girl was not officially missing, but he was tracking her cellular phone location, according to the sheriff’s office.
“This girl keeps on running from cops,” the man tells the deputy. “She runs from the cops, that’s why we didn’t want marked cars.”
But the sheriff’s office insists there was nothing the defendant could have marked his car with even if he wanted – at least not in the way he allegedly meant – at least not anymore.
In May, Fluty was fired by the Miami-Dade Police Department after failing a urine test, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
“On further investigation, detectives determined Fluty is no longer a police officer and is not a member of any federal task force,” the sheriff’s office said.
Additional footage shows the defendant’s arrest hours later.
“What did I do?” the man asks as he is being handcuffed.
Later, as deputies manipulate the handcuffs before putting Fluty into the back of a vehicle, he says: “You can Google my name. I got officer of the year and everything. I don’t know how I’m impersonating.”
Indeed, in May 2020, Fluty was named the officer of the year by the Miami-Dade Police Department after he was shot and injured while trying to arrest someone wanted for domestic battery, according to a report by Miami-based Fox and ABC affiliate WSVN.
As part of the honors, the defendant was presented with a 2020 Toyota Tundra by the automobile company, the TV station reported.
“Following his arrest, Fluty said he provided his old badge and credentials ‘out of habit’ and ‘by mistake,’ and that he ‘accidentally’ claimed to be a police officer,” according to the sheriff’s office. “Documentation gathered during the investigation suggests he is actually a private investigator who may have been in the area for an insurance investigation.”
Fluty was arrested on Monday and posted bail the next afternoon.
