An off-duty security guard was arrested early Wednesday morning after he activated flashing lights and a siren on his vehicle to stop another motorist.
A Lake County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to investigate a 911 call late Tuesday night from the security guard, 32-year-old Jonathan C. Shaddix, after he stopped a car on State Road 46 near Carroll Avenue in Sorrento. Shaddix, who lives at 220 Longhorn Drive in Apopka and works for Blue Peak Realty in Tampa, told a dispatcher that the driver of a 2009 black Mazda was driving recklessly, so he activated flashing lights in his white Chevy Impala to stop the car, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy noted that Shaddix’s vehicle had no markings or insignias on it but had multiple flashing white LED lights activated, as well as a spotlight on the driver’s side door and a push bumper like those commonly installed on police vehicles.
The deputy made contact with the driver of the Mazda, who told him that the incident started on SR 46 in Seminole County. He said he passed Shaddix’s vehicle in the area where the road narrows from four to two lanes and then he sped up and began tailgating him. The man said he sped up because he feared road rage and even passed other cars in attempt to get away from Shaddix, but he caught up to him and started tailgating him again, the report says.
The man said Shaddix activated the flashing lights and siren on his vehicle when they were in the area of SR 46 and the Mount Plymouth fire station. He said he then believed the car was an undercover police vehicle so he pulled over accordingly, the report says, adding that Shaddix told him over a loud speaker to stay in his vehicle “until backup arrived.”
Shaddix, who was dressed in khaki tactical-style pants and a tactical equipment vest with a gold badge sewn on it that read “Security Enforcement Officer,” was wearing a belt that contained handcuffs and “what appeared to be a firearm and taser or stun gun-type device.” The deputy asked Shaddix if he was armed and he said the weapons were pepper-ball guns, the report says.
When asked why he conducted the traffic stop, Shaddix told the deputy he didn’t view what he did as a traffic stop. He said the driver of the Mazda was endangering the public to the point that he needed to take action. And he admitted to reaching speeds of 100 mph during the incident and activating his emergency lights and chirping his siren to get the driver of the Mazda to stop, the report says.
Shaddix, whose vehicle contained a siren/light bar like those installed in police cruisers, said he was returning from security guard duties at an apartment complex in Titusville. He admitted to the deputy that he holds no law enforcement certifications nor a security guard license. And he stated his only law enforcement experience came in about 1999 when he was an Explorer with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Shaddix was transported to the Lake County Jail and charged with impersonating a law enforcement official. He was released a short time later on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in a Lake County courtroom on Oct. 8 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charge.
