By Steve Neavling
The DEA is investigating one of its off-duty undercover agents who is accused of misusing her badge in an attempt to get her neighbors in Texas to turn down their music on New Year’s Eve.
One of the neighbors, James Downs, of Hillsborough County, filed a complaint against the unnamed agent, ABC affiliate WFTS reports.
The tense exchange was caught on a surveillance camera. It happened shortly after midnight, when the agent knocked on the neighbor’s door and requested he turned down the music.
“Turn it down, turn it down,” the agent says while flashing a badge. “It’s the last time I come here. Yeah, turn it down.”
Downs’ wife Christina Downs said the agent’s actions are “an abuse of power that is way completely unacceptable.”
“I felt like it was very unethical and so unprofessional and such a terrible way to represent that agency,” she said.
Plant City Police Sgt. Alfred Van Duyne agreed.
“If it were me I would be looking at it that it reflects badly on my agency as well as myself,” Van Duyne said.
A DEA spokeswoman confirmed the agency is investigating the complaint.
