WASHINGTON — A 35-year old Alexandria man was arrested for impersonating an officer at a Southeast housing complex.
Police arrested Joshua Taber after a security guard at the Forest Ridge Vistas Apartments on Elvans Road, SE tipped off officers that his supervisor was on the property with an unlicensed gun.
"We heard he was showing off with the gun,” resident Curtis Kelly said. "I guess he showed off to the wrong person!”
Kelly captured the dramatic arrest on his cellphone. The man they all thought was a special police officer was being shaken down, busted by police.
"He always had a gun, that's why police took the gun off his hip," Kelly recalled. "But he never acted aggressive toward us,” a young lady said on her way home Monday night. "He would just check ID’s of the drivers coming into the property.”
According to court documents, when police asked Taber if he had weapons in his car, he replied: “not that I know of." But officers discovered an AR-15 in a duffle bag and a military-style vest with rifle plates.
"Everybody was nervous like he was going to do some type of attack because everything was happening around that time with the attacks," Kelly said.
The police report contained a long list of evidence seized by officers, including multiple fully loaded 30 round magazines, a police raid jacket, and badges. Police said he even added his own red and blue flashing lights to the top of his white impala.
“It makes you think if they're here to secure us, how can they be trusted," Kelly said.
Taber was released from custody and will be back in court to answer to the D.C. charges on November 4th.