SPRINGBORO, Ohio — A 52-year-old Middletown man who is accused of posing as an officer reportedly had multiple items related to law enforcement, including a light bar, handcuffs, a New York Police Department patch, zip ties and more, according to a Springboro police report.
Dennis Meade is facing one count of impersonating an officer, a first-degree misdemeanor, according to Miamisburg Municipal Court. He is scheduled to be arraigned June 26.
Around 5:40 p.m. Saturday, a caller informed 911 dispatchers a white Chevrolet Tahoe tried to ram another vehicle off the road. The Tahoe was last seen going east on state Route 73 near the Franklin Walmart.
While canvassing traffic near West Central Avenue and Sharts Road, Springboro police noticed a white Tahoe similar to the suspect vehicle and initiated a traffic stop in the Kroger parking lot.
The officer noted the Tahoe had a light bar on top of the SUV and a thin blue line flag on the tailgate hatch, according to the report. The license plate a had a blue logo that read “Concerns of Police Survivors” and had “COPS” written on it.
“At this point I was under the impression that the driver was possibly a retired law enforcement officer of some sort,” the officer wrote in the report.
When the officer asked the driver, later identified as Meade, if he was in law enforcement or used the SUV for work, the driver said no.
The officer continued to look around the Tahoe and noticed several items related to law enforcement, including a set of handcuffs hanging on a spotlight attached to a pillar and a light toggle box to control overhead lights, according to the report.
Meade was asked to step out of the vehicle and told the officer he had a pistol on him, which the officer removed from his hip. There was also a loaded magazine in his shorts pocket.
The officer was able to turn on the Tahoe’s overhead lights and discovered several strobe lights as well a light bar that flashed amber, red and white, according to the report. There was a light bar in the windshield, taillights that flashed red, two small light bars on the hatch that flashed red and amber and white strobe lights near the front wheel wells on both sides of the SUV.
The other person involved in the reported road rage incident then arrived on scene.
The man told police the incident started near state Route 741 near Miamisburg when the Tahoe reportedly almost rear-ended the man’s minivan. Meade allegedly tried to ram the minivan off the road multiple times and then activated his overhead lights on I-75 South near Austin Landing, according to the report.
“There was no contact made with the vehicle, but (the driver of the minivan) stated Meade was definitely trying to get them to pull over as if he was a police officer,” the report read. “Meade admitted to activating his lights to try and get (the minivan) to pull over but wouldn’t elaborate why.”
The man’s wife and 4- and 6-year-old children were reportedly in the van at the time.
During a search of the Tahoe police found more items related to law enforcement, including two sets of handcuffs, a Guardian Angel flashlight, radio, light bar, dash camera, a yellow traffic control jacket and vest, traffic cones, gloves, road flares, zip ties, duct tape, blue light bar, two notebooks with plate numbers and locations, a New York Police Department patch, thin blue line hats and beanies and a handcuff key attached to the key ring in the Tahoe’s ignition.
Meade is not a police officer or affiliated with any type of law enforcement, according to the report. He was previously convicted of impersonating a police officer in California and charged with possession/use of tear gas, using fake government identification, possessing burglary tools and other felonies.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol Dayton Post was called to respond and is handling the investigation.
Meade was booked into the Montgomery County Jail for impersonating an officer, according to OSHP.
As of Monday afternoon, he was no longer listed as being in custody on the Miami Valley Jails website.
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