The Fake Cop

On March 5, at 9:50 a.m., a woman traveling south on U.S. 1 in Florida saw 25-year-old John T. Colucci race by her on a motorcycle, pull up next to a white pickup truck at a stoplight, and begin threatening the driver of the vehicle. “I’m a [expletive] cop, you could have laid me out on the street,” Colluci was quoted as saying, as he simultaneously raised his jacket and exposed a handgun. Colluci then held a badge in his wallet up at the truck driver and screamed, “I’m a [expletive] cop!” He then sped off on his motorcycle "pulling his front wheel off the ground."

The woman followed Colucci to the Port St. Lucie Civic Center while dialing 911 on her cell phone. Colucci, noticing that he was being followed, turned around and raced towards her vehicle as if he was “playing a game of chicken.” The woman was “terrified of a head-on collision,” but thankfully Colluci turned his motorcycle and sped away from the scene.

Investigators later apprehended Colucci at the Self Defense Gun Shop and Pistol Range in Port St. Lucie, where he worked. He denied knowing anything about the incident, but admitted to having a “security badge” in his wallet. The badge looked almost identical to the badges worn by Port St. Lucie Police Department officers. Colucci was arrested and charged with falsely impersonating an officer, openly carrying a weapon, unlawfully using a police insignia, and driving recklessly. Police confiscated his Glock 30 handgun and “security badge.”

A call to the Public Affairs Office at the Port St. Lucie Police Department confirmed that Colucci holds a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Florida. Due to a law passed at the behest of the NRA that shields the identities of permit holders in the state , however, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services refused to say whether Colucci’s permit had been suspended or revoked by authorities.

That might leave residents of Port St. Lucie unsettled, because Colucci is currently out of jail on $3,500 bail. A court date is expected to be set sometime soon.

It is ironic that an individual who works for the “Self Defense Shooting Center” would use his handgun instead to intimidate and threaten the residents of his own community. If Florida officials have respect for the brave men and women who have taken an oath “to serve and protect” as law enforcement officers in the Sunshine State—and even a passing interest in safeguarding public safety—they will make sure this fake cop never carries a concealed weapon again.