SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. – A Sunny Isles Beach man is facing three felony charges after the city’s police department said he pulled a gun on a disabled scooter rider while pretending to be a New York City police officer. They said the BMW driver then knocked the amputee to the ground by kicking his scooter.
Police arrested John Anthony Lora on Friday. They said the 41-year-old wasn’t even supposed to be behind the wheel in the first place — and knew it.
According to Sunny Isles Beach police, the apparent road rage incident happened just before 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the 16900 block of Collins Avenue.
5 p.m. report:
An arrest report states that the victim, William Lawrence, told investigators that he noticed an “aggressive driver,” later identified as Lora, tailgating him in a black BMW 528i.
“I turned and told him to back off,” Lawrence told Local 10 News in a phone interview on Monday.
Lora, police said, went up to Lawrence, pulled out a Smith & Wesson 9 mm pistol, “pointed it at him and threatened to kill him.”
Police said he also “identified himself as a New York City police officer and showed him a badge.”
“You know, when he pulled out the gun. I didn’t know whether he was a real cop or a fake cop, but I just knew that he was dangerous, because I believe that if I was in a dark alley and this happened, he would have shot me,” Lawrence said. “Because what kind of person pulls out a gun in the middle of Collins Avenue, in the middle of the lane, stopping traffic, points it at someone and says, ‘I’m going to kill you, mother-you-know-what.’?”
The report states that he then kicked the scooter, causing Lawrence, who who said he uses a prosthesis after losing his leg to an infection last summer, to fall to the ground.
“He kicked me after I told him, ‘Look, buddy, I’ve got a prosthetic foot. You think I’m going to fight you?’” Lawrence said. “So that’s what a tough guy he is. Yeah, kick a one-footed man on a scooter.”
“Multiple witnesses” backed up Lawrence’s account, police said. They said the attack was caught on surveillance video.
Police said the next day, they saw Lora — who has a suspended license — driving his BMW in the same area and took him into custody.
Authorities said they found the gun in his center console after Lora gave them consent to search the vehicle.
The report states that during an interview at the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, Lora claimed that Lawrence hit him with his scooter and was the one who claimed to be a police officer, stating he felt “threatened” after the victim told him, “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”
Lora, police said, “maintained that he did not take out his handgun and left it in the back seat of his car.”
“However, he later changed his story, stating that he did take out his handgun but never directly pointed it at the victim,” the report states.
An alleged subsequent admission was redacted from the report.
Police arrested Lora on charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer in the commission of a felony, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a person with a mental or physical disability.
“A man who pulls a gun in the middle of traffic on Collins Avenue and points it at another human being deserves to be behind bars,” Lawrence said.
The report states he was also cited for knowingly driving with a suspended license.
As of Monday, he remained in the Metrowest Detention Center on a $12,500 bond. According to jail records, if released, he’ll be required to be on house arrest with GPS monitoring.