UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — The future of a Maryland-licensed security guard charged with impersonating a police officer in Prince George’s County is being decided by a jury.
Carl Colston, 47, is on trial after he allegedly used flashing lights on his Ford Crown Victoria Sedan to pull over three men on Kenilworth Avenue last July. But Colston’s defense attorney, Douglas Wood, told jurors Wednesday there is a lot more to the story.
“This is his career on the line” Wood told Jurors. “He minds his own business, he works all the time, and they want to deprive him of that job.”
Colston testified during this case that he used his vehicle lights to pull over a pick up truck with three men inside, talked on a two way radio and displayed a badge because he was scared of the men who Colston said were following him after a road rage incident exiting the Capital Beltway in Greenbelt.
Colston’s arrest in the days after the incident was captured on police body cameras in Greenbelt where he introduced himself to an arresting officer as "Marshall Colston."
Colston is an employee of Maryland Marshall Service, his attorney said. The private security company is registered with Maryland State Police, and Colston holds a state license to work as a security guard, Wood told jurors.
The police video shows Colston was carrying what turned out to be a replica gun that his attorney said legally shoots non-lethal pepper balls. Officers also seized a badge and a wide array of police equipment.
Colston was driving a black Ford Crown Victoria sedan with white flashing lights. The display is legal in Maryland. He was arrested after a man claimed Colston pulled him and two companions over on Kenilworth Avenue on July 8. The driver claimed Colston flashed a badge, used a two way a radio and had what appeared to be a gun.
The driver videotaped the encounter which proved to be the key evidence in the trial.
"This case is all about authority," Prosecutor John Nedley told jurors.
Colston may only act in his capacity as a security guard on the private property of someone who hired him, Nedley pointed out. The encounter happened on public roads.
But Colston’s attorney argued all of the equipment, including the badge and replica gun, were legal to possess and were used by Colston on his jobs as a state-licensed security guard protecting apartment complexes and a holiday inn in Greenbelt.
Wood noted that after using his two-way radio to ask a colleague to call police, Colston waited on the roadside for 20 minutes, but no officer appeared in that time and Colston left.
The defense attorney told jurors Colston was scared by the three men in a pick up truck who would not stop following him after an alleged road rage incident on the Beltway. Colston flashed the badge and used the radio to have a colleague call police because "he wanted the men to leave him alone" and he wanted to report reckless driving.
Arguments wrapped up for the trial Wednesday afternoon, and the jury was deliberating as of WUSA9's last check.
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