Man impersonates police officer to grab free cup of coffee

INDIANAPOLIS — Cream, sugar -- and a ride to jail.

A man was arrested in Indianapolis for impersonating a police officer. According to court documents, the man was trying to score a free cup of coffee and believed being a law enforcement was a ticket to a steaming cup of brew.

On July 30, Indianapolis police officers were called to a Speedway Gas Station after midnight. According to the cashier at the store, they were not the first “officers” to enter the business.

An employee told police that on the morning of July 29, a man wearing body armor under a blue polo shirt entered the store and asked, “Do law enforcement officers get free coffee?”

Told that officers were entitled to free coffee, the man poured himself a cup and left the area.

Apparently, it was good coffee.

Shortly after midnight, the man returned and told the clerk he was there for “extra security,” claiming again to be a police officer.

While the coffee’s aroma might have been good, something did not smell right with the clerk, who called police.

Confronted by the real police, the man claimed he worked for the “president and other government agencies,” according to court documents.

The man was sporting pins on his soft body armor vest that referenced the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a patch that touted a “Grassroots Army Firearms Policy Coalition” patch.

Those did not amount to a hill of coffee beans to police, who arrested him and placed him in the back seat of a cruiser.

Stealing the cup of coffee -- and more seriously, impersonating an officer -- means potential misdemeanor charges could be filed.

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