Posted on 03/04/2008 6:58:28 AM PST by Between the Lines
GASTONIA, N.C. -- A decision made by federal officials will keep a Czech Republic man who was driving a vehicle eerily similar to police car in jail because of his immigration status.
Milan Krivsky, 32, was arrested Saturday. A state trooper said he pulled over Krivsky on Interstate 85 in Belmont for speeding and became suspicious when he saw his international license and equipment in the man’s vehicle.
The trooper asked for permission to search the Jeep Cherokee and found digital cameras mounted on the dash along with a blue light, a siren, a radar gun and an official-looking Department of Homeland Security sticker. Investigators said he also had a laptop computer with pornographic images on it and a duffle bag containing his visa, duct tape, box cutters and gloves. They seized a number of other items – some of which they would not comment on.
Krivsky is charged with operating a vehicle that resembles a law enforcement vehicle and for possession of an operable open blue light – misdemeanor charges he plans to handle himself.
“You are going to represent yourself or hire your own attorney, is that correct?” Judge Jim Jackson asked Monday.
“Yes. Hire my own attorney,” he said.
Krivsky was initially being held on $1,000 bond at the Gaston County jail, but the judge raised that bond to $5,000. Federal officials, however, put a hold on him early Monday – meaning even if he makes bond he will still have to stay in jail until he talks to federal officials.
They said although he is in the country legally, they want to know why he’s in the United States and why he had the items.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are all investigating.
Krivsky told authorities he makes a living by selling merchandise on eBay and troopers said he has thousands of dollars in banks across the United States. He also told authorities that he grew up in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and was a police officer there.
The suspect had been staying in a hotel in Hickory and had applied to live in a Hickory apartment complex.
We need to sqeeze this guy...
BS, pack him up and ship him out!
Police impersonators are made possible by police departments that are ordered to routinely use unmarked police cars for interdictions (stops) instead of being ordered to limit unmarked car useage to surveillience-only.
The general public is too afraid of running from a real policeman in an unmarked car...so everybody stops for the fake cops, too (insert internet bravado on how you wouldn’t here).
It’s because of creeps like this guy that I wouldn’t even think of driving somewhere unarmed.
I'd think I'd make him spell it out a little more clearly if I were the judge.
His defense will be "He's just a wild and crazy guy just looking for foxes".
After they water board him to find out what he knows.
They found porn that possibly involves minor boys on his laptop.
"Car outfitted with police equipment....."
Being outfitted as a patrol car is often the way perverts and rapists pull over unsuspecting females on dark, lonely highways. This is what it adds up to me.
Deport him halfway across the ocean.
Leni
The fellow who said only marked vehicles should be used for traffic stops is 100 percent right.
Yep. It’s not terrorism. It’s his rape/murder toolkit.
My wife and daughter are under strict orders from me to never stop for an unmarked car. Continue driving, take off whatever. If the cop is real, they will soon be surrounded by a phalanx of real police. I told them that I’ll deal with any repercussions later.
Realistically, there shouldn’t be any.
I'd like to know how the guy was driving a car in jail, period.
duct tape, box cutters and gloves. They seized a number of other items – some of which they would not comment on.
$1000 bail? were they kidding? I’d start putting every missing persons picture in front of the guy and see what shakes loose.
If they’re behind you, how do you tell if its marked or unmarked?
A black Crown Vic with a light bar looks exactly like a black and white and marked Crown Vic with a light bar when its behind you. A lot of departments, especially ones who generate large amounts of income from traffic enforcement, use low-profile light bars that appear nearly black when unlit.
I’ve seen police and highway patrol using Jeeps, Taurus (Tauris?), Impalas and Explorers. They all appear as a single color from the front.
I’m not questioning your advice - its sound. Just curious how you would tell the difference when pulled over unless you saw the vehicle from the side before the stop.
I agree with the other poster that police vehicles used for traffic stops should be clearly marked in a consistent manner across the country, and that non-police vehicles should be prohibited from using reasonably similar markings.
Yup. I've been trying to get Cullman, Alabama to cease using their unmarked police cars for night-time highway stops.
Lots of innocent drivers are being "trained" to stop for such cars on I-65...and it won't be too long before some sicko takes advantage of that fact by putting a blue light on the dash of his white car.
No, take him to Gitmo and squeeze him.
He reminds me of Alec Baldwin..........
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