GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A University of Florida student and Army veteran on Wednesday disputed allegations by campus police that he misrepresented himself as a military police officer while he was being arrested inside a classroom building earlier this month on unrelated theft charges.
Authorities this week re-arrested Tyler Anthony Brown, 29, of Miami on a new felony charge of impersonating a police officer. Brown has pleaded not guilty, but also signalled Tuesday in court records that he would be open to changing his plea at a court hearing scheduled for April 29.
In a highly unusual move, university police had arrested Brown on March 5 inside the UF classroom building Keene-Flint Hall during a history lecture. A video that circulated on social media showed at least four uniformed officers holding down Brown as a fifth officer in plain clothes watched.
Police said during his arrest, Brown said that he was attached to the 317th Military Police Battalion. When an officer asked him whether he was on active duty, Brown replied “Yes, I am,” and presented to the officers an expired military ID and a military police badge, according to court records.
Detective Anastasiya Shkurko contacted the Army Criminal Investigations Department, which confirmed that Brown had fully separated from the Army in 2021 and had no current affiliation with the military or reserves. Prosecutors formally charged Brown on March 12 with impersonating a military police officer.
In a new interview Wednesday, Brown disputed the story.
“There was a miscommunication and the accusations are unfair and inaccurate,” Brown said, just after he was released from jail as his court case proceeds. He added, “I wasn’t able to present proper identification because I was in handcuffs.”
Brown said the officers went through his backpack while he was handcuffed in a police cruiser and found his military identification cards.
“I told them that I was in the Army from 2014 to 2021 and served with the 317th during that time,” he said.
Brown’s classroom arrest happened over a felony theft charge after police said he stole an 85-inch TV in May from the student lounge of Midtown Apartments, where police said he was subletting a room without permission from apartment managers. A police officer arrested him in June outside a convenience store, where the officer said Brown tried to run away.
Under a plea deal Aug. 12, prosecutors said they would withhold adjudication in that case if Brown didn’t break the law again for 12 months.
Just four days later, Brown was spotted on surveillance cameras sneaking into the UF Computer Sciences and Engineering Building before 3 a.m. and carrying out two large TVs, university police said. An investigator showed the video to Brown’s ex-girlfriend, who said she was “5,000% positive” it was Brown who carried the televisions out of the building. That all led to his arrest on March 5.
Brown posted $115,000 bail on March 6. A subsequent warrant in the impersonation case was issued by Judge David Krieder with an additional bail set at $2,500.
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