A man was arrested after Miami-Dade Commissioner and former cop Joe Martinez encountered a police impersonator who tried to stop him on Florida State Road 836 on Wednesday, authorities said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department said the incident occurred on eastbound Florida State Road 836 and Northwest 45th Avenue. A vehicle that activated red emergency lights approached him on the road.
Martinez recognized the lights are not standard police lights and flagged down an officer who was driving by.
The officer stopped the police impersonators. Once apprehended, police found a gun in the car, sources said.
"I thank God it was me that they tried to stop for the simple reason that I know more or less what could be going on," Martinez said. "Could you imagine a young person or elderly person who just got their license, they probably would have stopped and then what could have happened?"
Franklin Dixon-Lozano, 27, was arrested Wednesday night and faces charges of falsely impersonating an officer and possessing a firearm while committing an offense, police said. Another man who was questioned was released and not charged.
Dixon-Lozano appeared in bond court Thursday, where a judge set a $15,000 bond and ordered him to surrender his passport.
Martinez is a commissioner for Miami-Dade's District 11 and a former Miami-Dade police officer.
