At this point we have introduced more than two million people to Jeremy Dewitte, the motorcycle-riding, police-impersonating, funeral-escorting, Florida-Man-to-the-max who recently managed to get himself arrested three times in three months for impersonating a police officer.
But how does that even happen? Because, let's be real for a minute: that's not an easy thing to do.
Round one began on September — actually, hang tight- Round one began in 1998, when Dewitte was first arrested for impersonating a police officer. (Details in a public post on Patreon, and coming in a video tomorrow.)
'Recent round one' began on September 7, 2019, when officers of the Windermere police department stopped Dewitte and informed him that his motorcycle was coming back as stolen. To say that Dewitte lost his shit would be an understatement. If you thought you saw him flipping out in the first video we published... you haven't seen anything yet. Dewitte's bike ended up not being stolen, but Dewitte himself was taken in on charges of resisting without violence, impersonating a police officer, and reckless driving. Dewitte was wearing a body camera during his arrest, and it was seized as evidence. Windermere police applied for a search warrant for its contents, and when the warrant was approved they found a trove of incriminating footage, some of which you have already seen.
Included within that collection of footage were at least two other instances supporting probable cause for impersonating a police officer, and each of those instances was tied to an interaction with the motoring public. Because the offenses all occurred in Orange County, Windermere Police Detective John Allen handed the footage over to Orange County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Keith Vidler.
While reviewing Dewitte's body camera video, Vidler noticed that Dewitte appeared to be handling a motorist complaint by phone, and that Dewitte was surreptitiously recording the call — which can be charged as a felony in Florida. In the video, Dewitte identifies himself to the caller as "J” and they begin to converse about her complaint without notification that the phone conversation is being recorded.
"Based on my investigation, there were three separate phone calls between Victim and Dewitte, and at no time did Dewitte inform Victim that the phone call was being recorded nor was there any request for consent to record the phone call."
"On 10/08/19, Cpl. Ramsey met with Victim. Victim indicated that on 09/26/19, at approximately 11:00 am, she was stopped at a red light when she began to hear sirens approaching from behind her. She observed a black and white motorcycle approach the intersection, enter the intersection, then begin to direct traffic as other marked vehicles with flashing lights entered the intersection. At one point, she was ordered to move from her stopped position by the person on the motorcycle to allow other approaching vehicles to enter the intersection. Victim described the individual as wearing a “police-style" uniform with vest, radio, and gun belt.
"She described the motorcycle as being “police-style” vehicle with mounted flashing lights and sirens. The Victim indicated that she initially believed the person giving her instructions at the intersection was a police officer, and that the commands given to her were lawful and in the execution of the normal duties of a police officer," becoming suspicious when she noticed the words "Metro State" and that the flashing lights were purple and amber."
Based upon the above facts, Vidler found probable cause to believe that on 09/26/19, Dewitte violated FS 934.03 by intercepting three phone calls between himself and Victim, without her knowledge or consent, and that Dewitte had impersonated an officer in his earlier interactions with the Victim. The State Attorney agreed, and a warrant was issued for Dewitte's arrest.
Note:
-Some of the quoted text has been lightly edited to protect the victim’s privacy. Prior to publishing this video, I spoke with her by phone and provided her with an advance copy of the video; she is onboard.
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