SALISBURY — A Delmar man was arrested for impersonating a police officer at a Delmarva Shorebirds game on Sunday after detaining a man and his daughter, forcing him to perform field sobriety tests in the stadium parking lot before searching their vehicle for drugs.
Around 10:25 p.m. on Sunday, a Wicomico County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a reported disturbance at Perdue Stadium during which a suspect later identified as Cody Lee Holland, 20, of Delmar, had been impersonating a police officer. Witnesses reported Holland was in the stands at the conclusion of the game and told those around him he was an undercover police officer and everybody had to sit down before the fireworks could begin.
At the conclusion of the fireworks, Holland followed a patron and his daughter to their vehicle in the stadium parking lot and began making accusatory statements that they were involved in illicit drug use. Holland then identified himself to the father and daughter as a Maryland State Police trooper and began to question the man’s sobriety.
Holland put the victim through a battery of field sobriety tests in the stadium parking lot. When the tests were completed, Holland told the victim and his teenage daughter to sit down on the curb after patting down the father and searched their vehicle for drugs. At that point, Delmarva Shorebirds staff approached and Holland fled the scene on foot. While running away, Holland discarded what later turned out to be a Delaware Department of Corrections badge.
Witnesses told police Holland had flashed the badge while identifying himself as a police officer. Holland was located and deputies determined he was under the influence of alcohol. He was placed under arrest and became uncooperative with the arresting deputy. In addition to being verbally abusive toward the police, Holland forced one of the deputies to have to carry him to the patrol care for transportation to the Sheriff’s Office.
He was charged with impersonating a police officer, assault, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and unlawful imprisonment. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner and was ordered to be held on a $10,000 bond.