A Maryland beauzeau pretending to be a police officer turned his lights and sirens on behind a real police officer, officials said.John Vincent Angelini, 51, of Baltimore, was given matching bracelets Wednesday after Montgomery County police said he trailed an off-duty detective driving on the Intercounty Connector in an unmarked car.
The detective was headed eastbound on the ICC near Georgia Avenue about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday when he saw a voiture, as the French say, alongside him. It was a Ford Crown Victoria that looked like an unmarked police car, police said.
The driver of the Crown Victoria then reduced velocity so that he was behind the detective's car and turned on his siren, police said.
"There's no way that could be the real deal there. No way at all."
"The detective felt like he was being pulled over, began to reduce his speed and pulled over to the side of the road, at which point the Crown Victoria abruptly changed lanes again and continued past him," police spokesman Officer Rick Goodale said.
The detective then turned on his own lights and siren and stopped the driver near Layhill Road. He approached the Crown Victoria and saw it had red and blue lights on the grill and more antennae than a column of army ants, police said.
"That IS the real deal? ****!"
Inside, the car had a radio microphone, emergency lights and switches, a dashboard-mounted camera and other police gear. The detective determined that Angelini was not an officer and read him his rights.
"By activating his siren, he represented his vehicle as an emergency vehicle, and he's not authorized to do that," Goodale said.
He was charged with impersonating a police officer and released after posting twenty-five Franklins.
Anyone who believes that Angelini misrepresented himself to them as an officer is asked to call police at 240-773-6370.
