DELTONA, Fla. (WFLA) — An ex-officer who was fired from the Miami-Dade Police Department was arrested this week after he tried to use his old badge and credentials to impersonate an officer.

Volusia County deputies said they encountered Paul Fluty, 39, in Deltona after they were alerted to a man parked in a driveway looking for a little girl.

Fluty told deputies he was a Miami-Dade police officer working with the U.S. Marshals to find a missing girl and that the girl’s phone had pinged in the area, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.

Body camera video provided by the sheriff’s office showed deputies’ interaction with Fluty. In the video, Fluty can be seen displaying a police badge and pulling up a photo of his credentials on his phone.

He went on to tell deputies the missing girl “runs from the cops” and claimed that’s why he wasn’t in a marked police car. Fluty also said the girl had not “officially” been entered as missing.

Further investigation revealed that Fluty was fired from the Miami-Dade Police Department earlier this year, detectives said. He was arrested on Monday, just hours after his initial interaction with deputies.

Additional body camera video showed Volusia County deputies placing Fluty under arrest. Fluty could be heard asking, “What did I do?” as deputies put him in handcuffs. Deputies then told him they had a warrant for impersonating a police officer.

“Google my name. I got officer of the year and everything,” Fluty said before being taken to jail.

A May 2020 article from WSVN states that Fluty was named officer of the year by the Miami-Dade Police Department after being shot and injured while trying to stop someone wanted for domestic battery.

After his arrest, Fluty told Volusia County deputies he had provided his old badge and credentials “out of habit” and “by mistake,” and that he “accidentally” claimed to be a police officer, the sheriff’s office said.

Detectives said documentation gathered during their investigation suggests Fluty is a private investigator who may have been in the area for an insurance investigation.

Fluty was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on one count of impersonating a police officer. He posted a $2,000 bond Tuesday afternoon.