Posted on 11/09/2002 9:18:20 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Police: Teens in bogus police car jailed after pulling over police chief
The Associated Press
11/9/02 9:52 AM
ADRIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Two teenagers were charged with impersonating a police officer after police say they pulled over a real one -- in this case, Adrian police Chief Mike Martin.
The 18-year-olds from Adrian admitted after their arrests that they had stopped several motorists while driving a car equipped with illegal lights. They said they thought it was funny, according to a police report.
Edward A. Currier and Albert E. Welch were arraigned Friday on the misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. Currier was being held in the Lenawee County Jail on a $2,500 bond. Welch was released after posting a $1,000 bond.
Police said Martin, who was off duty but still in uniform, was driving with his son in his own van Wednesday in Adrian Township when a car with blue lights on its hood came up behind him.
The car followed Martin's van up a hill before white strobe lights mounted on the inside of its windshield began. By then, Martin had gotten a good look at the black 1997 Dodge Intrepid.
"It didn't look like a police car to me, knowing what police cars look like," he told The Daily Telegram of Adrian. Most law enforcement officers in Lenawee County drive Ford Crown Victorias or Chevrolet Impalas.
Martin stopped, got out of his van and began walking toward the car, which started to back up. He pointed at the driver and motioned for him to come back, which he did.
"They looked very surprised" to see a uniformed police officer, Martin said. "I don't think they knew how to handle that."
Martin gave the driver his business card and ordered him to go to the Adrian police station. Sheriff's officers questioned the suspects since the incident took place outside the city limits.
According to the sheriff's department report, the driver said an Adrian police officer had stopped him Tuesday and told him the lights were illegal. The officer gave the teenager a verbal warning to remove the two blue lights and two white strobe lights, the report said.
Police cars usually are equipped with red and blue flashing lights, though not necessarily a light bar on the roof, Martin said.
"If you see no markings on the car, if you have a cell phone call 911" so a dispatcher can determine if a traffic stop is legitimate, he said.
For motorists without a cell phone, "don't pull over, but don't speed up, and go to an area with people and call police," Martin said.
Motorists should never approach a car that has pulled them over. "Don't do what I did," the chief said.
Some of these ten million troops of citizen spies might far surpass this level of tragi-comedy.
** yawn **
Things always were pretty slow in Adrian.
Could have been worse. Look up the case of Ida Lee Delany in Houston.
Late at night as she was on her way to work, she was chased by a car with four guys in it. She couldn't shake them, and eventually they forced her car to the side of the road. When one of the men approached her, she drew a gun to defend herself. She was shot dead.
The guys were off-duty, drunk cops who claimed they were trying to do a traffic stop.
And break the law for real?
Sounds like the kind of town where the chief probably knew the kid's parents.
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