Police say he carried a gun and wore the agency's patch. A Davenport man is accused of impersonating a police officer and using that front to handcuff and strip search someone. 20-year old Ben Smith Jr. was arrested Tuesday. According to police affidavits, along with two counts of Impersonating a Public Official he's charged with False Imprisonment and Simple Assault.
The first call to police came on August 16th. Officials say someone staying at the Quad City Inn on North Brady had a run-in with smith. Weeks later, on October 3rd, he re-appeared at Incredible Pizza on Kimberly Road as the restaurant was shutting down. From there investigators say it was the help of witnesses that finally brought him in.
A radio scanner, baton, pepper spray, two sets of handcuffs, and a gun are many of the tools a police officer carries daily on their duty belt. Only this, with what's actually a BB gun, is evidence collected when police arrested 20-year old Ben Smith Jr. this week.
"That is pretty serious stuff. Had it not been taken care of as quickly as it was who knows where it could have gone," said Captain Dale Sievert with Davenport Police Department.
In the incident first reported, an affidavit says Smith approached a man standing outside his motel room at the Quad City Inn. Smith allegedly identified himself as a Davenport Police Officer, told the man he was under arrest, then proceeded to cuff and strip search the victim. He eventually letting him go.
"It does put doubts in minds of individuals when actual police officers confront them so that presents more problems for us," added Captain Sievert.
Investigators got their next tip several weeks later when police say the man showed up outside Incredible Pizza wearing the same duty belt and a shirt complete with Davenport Police insignia. Several witnesses encountered him, including KWQC's Morgan Ottier while on assignment.
"He'd start telling people 'I'm a Davenport police officer,'" said Ottier. "It started to get a little weird. He was hanging around for a while. Then one of the employees that were at Incredible Pizza decided to call Davenport Police just to see what was going on."
Only police say he likely heard the call go out on his radio scanner and disappeared before officers arrived. But, from descriptions and even a name from witnesses, investigators later tracked him down. "There was some surveillance done on the individual and then a search warrant was executed at the residence he was staying at," said Captain Sievert.
"I think this was just an individual that wanted to be a police officer some day. Unfortunately that's probably not going to occur any longer," said Sievert.
Since his arrest Tuesday, Smith has bonded out. All four charges he faces are misdemeanors.
