Self defense from fake cop

I had a defensive gun use three years ago. I have hesitated to use it, until now.

I live in a very quiet community, and many people in the area use neighborhood electric vehicles to get around. Similar to golf carts, they are great for a quick errand to the store. Many areas in Florida are famous for this, and communities frequently include multi-use pathways just for that purpose.

Anyway, I had taken a run to the corner store and was on my way home, when a car backed out of a space in front of me, the driver obviously not bothering to check for cross traffic before backing out. I slammed on the brakes and avoided being hit by only a couple of inches. I gave him a dirty look, swerved around, and kept going. It was a white, two door Pontiac with a large “Punisher” sticker in the back window.

A minute or so later, I see in my mirror that the guy is behind me and honking his horn. As I stop to make the turn into my neighborhood, he jumps out of the car and begins telling me that it is illegal to leave the scene of an accident. I tell him that there was no accident, we never made contact. He tells me that I am a liar, and then says that he is a Navy Special Warfare police officer at the Navy base, and he is placing me under arrest. He tells me to turn around a put my hands behind my back. There are a few problems with that statement:

1. I am not aware of any “Navy Special Warfare Police”
2. Even if they exist, they have no civilian arrest powers
3. The nearest Navy operating base is over 100 miles away. Yes, there is a ‘secret’ Naval research facility about 20 miles from here, but I don’t think that they want their personnel running around in personal automobiles ‘arresting’ people for stupid stuff. The facility belongs to the Naval Research Lab, and they keep a VERY low profile. I don’t even know if there are military people there, it may just be civilians.
4. He is in shorts and a tank top. No identification. No uniform.

At any rate, this smells, so I ask for ID, which he refuses to produce. Right now, the bulk of his car and my NEV are between us, so I just tell him to get back in the car.

He says “What if I don’t want to?” and steps around the car. Now we are separated by about 10 feet and there is nothing between us but air. He takes another step closer.

I felt the hairs on my neck raise, and without even realizing that I had made the decision to do so, I drew my J frame from the pocket holster in my front right pocket. I held it at the low ready, muzzle pointed at the ground between us.

His eyes popped out of his head. I remember thinking that he looked like a cartoon character. He immediately put his hands up and began backing away as he said, “I’m not armed.” Then he ran, jumped in his vehicle, and sped away.

I called the 911, and a Deputy arrived less than a few minutes later. The cop who responded said that they would look for the guy, but they didn’t even take a report. The plate number I gave them was not a valid number. So he either had fake plates, or I simply didn’t give them the correct number.

The one big lesson that I took from this, was that I needed to begin carrying something to bridge the gap between bare hands and lethal force. That was the day that I began carrying Pepper Spray.