Man posing as cop arrested after stopping real officer

A Milton man charged with posing as a law enforcement officer was arrested when he tried to pull over an actual deputy.

Joshua Dwayne Lynam, 24, was arrested Friday on charges of impersonating an officer, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Lynam, who reportedly had red and white flashing lights installed on the front of his truck, pulled behind a deputy in an unmarked vehicle on Interstate 110 near Airport Boulevard.

"(The officer) saw the emergency lights, and he pulled over to the side to let him go by," said Sgt. Andrew Hobbs. "(Lynam) pulled up behind him, and he pretty much did a traffic stop."

Hobbs said after a few minutes, the deputy asked Lynam to produce his identification, and he could not.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Lynam is suspected of conducting similar traffic stops on civilian vehicles from Santa Rosa County to Baldwin County, Ala.

"Right now, we're trying to figure out if anyone else has had interactions with him," Hobbs said. "People who didn't know he wasn't a deputy, so maybe they didn't call and report it."

Lynam was driving a gold Chevrolet 1500 king cab equipped with red and white emergency flashing lights with Florida tag 869 UBN. Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of Lynam's during a suspicious traffic stop is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff's Office at 436-9620.

Lynam has been released from Escambia County Jail on a $1,000 bond. He had a 2013 arrest in Santa Rosa County for assault on an officer and interfering with a law enforcement officer using violence.

In that incident, Lynam had reportedly threatened suicide, then threatened to beat a responding officer with a video game controller if he turned off Lynam's computer.