By Maggie Ybarra
The El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — A Fort Bliss soldier arrested on suspicion of impersonating a police officer is now also suspected of impersonating a firefighter.
Spc. Jeremy Ray Hernandez, 20, of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, was arrested July 15 and again July 21, accused of impersonating a public servant in June, a third-degree felony.
After seeing Hernandez in the news after the first arrest, West Valley Fire Chief William Adler of Anthony, Texas, contacted a detective to let him know Hernandez had impersonated one of his firefighters on June 6.
That day, Hernandez was wearing a West Valley Fire Department T-shirt when he stopped a black car on Interstate 10 East near the Sunland Park exit, according to an affidavit. An officer who was patrolling the area noticed that Hernandez’s vehicle had an emergency light bar without law enforcement decals and stopped to investigate, the affidavit said.
Hernandez told the officer that the car had struck a guardrail and that as a “first-responder,” it was his duty to make sure that the vehicle’s occupants were not injured, the affidavit said.
When the officer asked Hernandez to show him his credentials, Hernandez claimed he had left them at home. Instead, he showed the officer his driver’s license and military identification card, the affidavit said.
The officer said he believed Hernandez to be a firefighter and let him go before contacting his supervisor. It was only after the officer spoke with Adler that he learned Hernandez was not a West Valley firefighter and that West Valley firefighters are not authorized to use lights and sirens on their privately owned vehicles, the affidavit said.
Adler said he was livid when he heard that someone was pretending to be a West Valley firefighter.
“My guys go through a lot of training to become volunteers, and to have somebody out there claiming to be one of us totally infuriated me,” he said.
Police showed Adler a video of the encounter between Hernandez and the officer in June, Adler said. Ever since then, Adler said, he has wondered why Hernandez felt motivated to masquerade as a West Valley firefighter.
“What has this guy done pretending to be us or any public official?” he said. “It sends chills through my spine.”
Hernandez was booked into the El Paso County Jail, his bond set at $10,000, on July 21 in connection with the firefighter impersonation. He was still there Wednesday evening.
Hernandez was arrested July 15 after he tried to pull over an undercover police officer while driving in the 3200 block of Copper Avenue, police said.
Police said he attempted “to stop the officer by flashing his vehicle’s lights” and using an air horn and siren. He ordered the officer to use his turn signal as he chased him, according to an affidavit.
The officer did not stop for Hernandez because he was responding to a request for emergency backup at the time, the affidavit said.
The officer eventually stopped in an area where there were other officers, police said.
When the officers arrested Hernandez, they found a police scanner, an emergency light bar, and plastic wrist restraints, police said.
Fort Bliss spokesman Maj. Myles Caggins said all soldiers are expected to be disciplined, good citizens. Hernandez could be expelled from the Army, Caggins said.
“Just because you commit a crime does not automatically equal you being put out of the Army,” he said.
“However, more often than not, you will be put out of the Army when you’ve been convicted of a felony and put in jail.”
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