Woman tells terrifying encounter with man impersonating police

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (WALA) - A woman recounted the jarring moment a man knocked on her door, pretending to be police. Bay Minette Police said he was armed with intense weaponry, including a meat cleaver.

“I could be dead right now,” said Brenda Anderson.

Saturday night, Anderson said she was asleep around 8 p.m. when she heard a loud knock at her door.

“I said, ‘who is it?’ and they said, ‘Baldwin County sheriff’s Office, police department,’ so I freaked out,” said Anderson.

After she answered, immediately, something didn’t feel right.

“I didn’t see a police car, and he didn’t have on the correct uniform at all, and it was a fake little badge, like this big, it was silver,” she said. “Whenever I asked him for his information if he could give me a badge number or anything, he said no he couldn’t.”

Anderson said the man started interrogating her, saying he’s responding to a complaint regarding exploitation of children.

“I said, ‘sir, you are scaring me,’ and he said, ‘I can have someone from my office call you if you would like,’” she said. “Again, no police car or anything in sight. I then told him hold on, and I acted like I needed to go inside and get something. I called my landlord, and then I immediately called 911.”

Now, David Starke is charged with impersonating a police officer.

Bay Minette Police sent FOX10 News this picture of the weapons that were allegedly on him: a gun, handcuffs, and three knives…including a meat cleaver.

 “What if I would have kept talking to him?” said Anderson. “Is it okay if I step in and speak to you? And what if I believed him and my woman’s intuition didn’t kick in and tell me something was wrong? What if didn’t feel something was wrong? I could have been shot or killed. I could be dead right now.”

Starke has since bonded out of the Baldwin County jail on a $5000 bond.

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