• Police: Impersonator pulls over woman, tells her she's beautiful

    By LeAnne Gendreau, NBCConnecticut.com

    Connecticut police are investigating a possible case of police impersonation after a man pulled a woman over and told her she was beautiful.

    The woman was driving on an interstate in the town of South Windsor around 2:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve when a black Chevy Impala turned on flashing red and blue lights behind the windshield, police said.

    The woman stopped and a man approached her car and requested her license and registration.

    He asked a few questions, told the woman she was beautiful, then gave her back her papers, returned to his car, then continued to follow her onto Route 5 and Sullivan Avenue, police said.

    Read more at NBCConnecticut.com

    The woman reported the incident several hours later and police said there is no record of her registration or license being run by a police agency.


    The woman described the man as about 5-feet-10, with a medium build. He was wearing dark jeans, a black shirt, a black hooded sweatshirt and had some type of badge on a chain around his neck and a handgun on his hip, police said.

    The vehicle had no front license plate or markings.

    Anyone with information about this incident should call South Windsor Police at 860-644-2551.

    Police advise residents who believe they are being pulled over by someone who might be impersonating a police officer to put on your flashers, drive the speed limit and call 911 from your cell phone.

    Tell the 911 dispatcher that you are concerned.

    If you do not have a cell phone, drive to a well-lit, busy area, such as the parking lot of a busy store.

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    Do not stop your vehicle or get out of it until a dispatcher can confirm you are being pulled over by a legitimate police officer.

    If the dispatcher cannot confirm that you are being pulled over by a police officer, stay on the line with the dispatcher and drive carefully to a safe place, such as a local police department.

    If you cannot dial 911, ask the plainclothes officer to have a uniformed officer in a marked car respond to your location before you surrender documentation, and ask for their photo identification.

    Report any suspicious incidents, such as the one above, immediately to the local police agency.

  • 'Violent police impersonator' preying on Miami elderly

    By Donna Rapado, NBCMiami.com

    Miami Police

    A rendering of the suspect police say they're looking for in a series of attacks on the elderly in Miami.

    Miami Police say they are looking for a “violent police impersonator” who identifies himself as a police officer to his elderly victims, then demands their ID and robs them.

    Police say the man pretending to be an officer wears a black shirt that reads “police” and flashes a badge at his unsuspecting victims in their 70s and 80s as they walk in Little Havana.

    Read the original story on NBCMiami.com

    He asks his victims, like Enrique Campos, to give him all their money and identification, sometimes saying he’s with immigration and needs their documents. When the victim hesitates he beats them, as he did Campos, the 78-year-old man said.

    There have been seven incidents of robberies and confrontations involving a police impersonator with a similar vehicle and MO since March 6, police said.

    Rafael Acsina said he was barely 30 feet from his front door one recent night when a man pretending to be a police officer – who wore a shirt that said "police" on the front and carried a gun – drove up and accused him of having drugs.


    "He said you have to come with me in my car," said Acsina, who at 46 is the only victim younger than his 70s.

    Then the man got out of his car and started to frisk him as though he were going to arrest him – but really he was grabbing his belongings out of his pockets, Acsina said.

    In one case, the suspect briefly kidnapped a victim, police said.

    Miami Police spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz said the suspect stopped that victim as he was driving, got his information, and “then made the victim get in his car and told him he was going to take him to jail. Several blocks later, after driving, he dropped the victim off. We don’t know what his intentions were, but this is a concern to us.”

    Watch US News crime videos on msnbc.com

    Police say they are looking for a white Latin man who is between 25 and 35 years old, is between 5 feet 10 inches and 5 feet 11 inches tall, weights 190 to 200 pounds, has short hair, and has tattoos on both arms.

    He possibly drives a black four-door Ford Taurus with tinted windows and is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

    Police ask anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

    Acsina said the man who accosted him was drunk, and that once he realized he was not a real police officer he managed to escape unharmed. But the experience terrified him and is something he will never forget, he said.

    "I didn’t expect that somebody would try to kill me with a gun," he said.

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