{"id":118482,"date":"2026-01-14T23:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/118482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T23:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:47:21","slug":"largo-man-driving-suv-with-emergency-lights-arrested-for-impersonating-law-enforcement-hcso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/118482\/","title":{"rendered":"Largo man driving SUV with emergency lights arrested for impersonating law enforcement: HCSO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A man is facing multiple charges after deputies say he impersonated law enforcement by activating red and blue emergency lights on his vehicle while driving through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Hillsborough County <\/a>Sheriff&#8217;s Office, on Jan. 7, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/pasco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pasco County<\/a> Sheriff&#8217;s Office notified deputies that a suspicious black SUV with red and blue lights was entering Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The lights reportedly caused another driver to pull over, believing they were being stopped by law enforcement, HCSO said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">MORE NEWS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/community-mourns-two-teens-after-tunnel-collapse-citrus-county-these-boys-were-old-school-old-souls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Citrus County community grieving after 2 teens die in tunnel collapse: \u2018They were just kids\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Shortly before 1:30 p.m., deputies located the SUV and pulled the vehicle over near the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and Ehrlich Road.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The driver, Gamal Said, 28, told deputies he had activated the lights to get to work faster.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Said was arrested and faces charges of impersonating a public officer and unlawful use of a blue light.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/said-arrest-pic-1.14.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-0dea8073=\"\">Courtesy: Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The Largo man was also booked on two out-of-county warrants for probation violations related to burglary of an unoccupied structure.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;Falsely presenting as law enforcement is a serious offense that jeopardizes public safety,&#8221; Sheriff Chad Chronister said. &#8220;Anyone who abuses that trust will be held accountable, and we encourage drivers to call 911 if they are ever unsure about a traffic stop.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Detectives are asking anyone who believes they may have been pulled over or told to pull over by Said before his arrest to contact HCSO at 813-247-8200.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; A man is facing multiple charges after deputies say he impersonated law enforcement by activating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[630,47,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-118482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}