Monday, December 8, 2003 Posted: 12:39 PM EST (1739 GMT)
CLARKSTOWN, New York (AP) -- Mistake No. 1: Impersonating a police officer.
Mistake No. 2: Making a traffic stop.
Mistake No. 3: Stopping an off-duty state trooper.
Shalom Gelbman, 22, of New Square, New York, made all three mistakes, state police said.
Gelbman, with a strobe light on his dashboard and his high beams flashing, pulled a car over Wednesday night on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, police said. Inside the car was state Trooper Seamus Lyons, who arrested Gelbman. It was clear to Lyons that Gelbman wasn't a colleague, authorities said, because of his license plate number and the equipment he had in his car.
Gelbman was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal impersonation, police said, and was cited for having unauthorized equipment in his car, a dark blue Mercury Grand Marquis with tinted windows.
Gelbman was also ticketed for driving without a registration or insurance. He was released on $5,000 bail after being arraigned in Clarkstown Justice Court.
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