N.Y. rabbi charged with police impersonation

Shawn Cohen | The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News

Show Caption Hide Caption Rabbi accused of impersonating officer surrenders to cops Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski, a Larchmont, N.Y., rabbi accused of impersonating a police officer, surrendered to White Plains police on July 17, 2013. (Video by Shawn Cohen/The Journal News)

Rabbi surrendered to police after leaving psychiatric hospital

He is accused of impersonating a police officer in three jurisdictions

Borodowski%27s lawyer says the rabbi has bipolar disorder

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- A rabbi accused of impersonating a police officer was greeted by real officers shortly after his release from a psychiatric hospitalization.

Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski surrendered to White Plains police shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and was charged with misdemeanor criminal impersonation, accused of flashing a badge while screaming at a motorist to stop.

White Plains, the 49-year-old rabbi's hometown, is one of three jurisdictions where he's been accused of masquerading as a traffic officer.

"People are afraid and unsure whether people are real police officers. We can't have this happening," White Plains Police Commissioner David Chong said after Borodowski's surrender.

Last month, Mamaroneck police charged Borodowski with felony impersonation after a 24-year-old woman said he pulled up beside her there, waved a badge and ordered her to stop for driving slowly in a school zone.

"These charges were not unexpected at all. He's come here voluntarily," said Andrew Rubin, Borodowski's lawyer.

He said his client went to police headquarters after leaving a local psychiatric hospital — his second since his arrest in Mamaroneck last month.

Borodowski, the rabbi of Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont, N.Y., was released Wednesday pending his arraignment.

In the Mamaroneck case, he was scheduled to be in Mamaroneck Village Court on Thursday.

State police also want to "talk to him" about a third incident that occurred on Interstate 87 in Yonkers during the spring, Investigator Joseph Becerra said. It involves a 26-year-old Scarsdale man who claims Borodowski chased him for swerving in front of his vehicle, a confrontation that the man's passenger recorded on cellphone video. Rubin said the rabbi would surrender Thursday to state police.

The Yonkers and White Plains victims, who say the rabbi also approached them during the spring, came forward after the Mamaroneck arrest made headlines in mid-June.

Borodowski's lawyer announced last week that the rabbi has bipolar disorder and had spent much of the past few weeks hospitalized for his manic behavior.

"Between therapy and appropriate medication, we're certainly hopeful he will continue to be well," Rubin said Wednesday.

Chong said Borodowski's claim of mental illness is "not a consideration for these charges."

"This man violated the law," Chong said.

The rabbi was fired as executive director of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. Skirball released a statement Wednesday explaining that "the temple concluded that Rabbi Borodowski's separation was in the best interest of the congregation in light of the crucial nature of his position to our religious mission."

"I believe our first priority at this moment should be to do everything in our power to help Rabbi Alfredo recover from his illness and to welcome him back as our spiritual leader at the appropriate time," Donald Meltzer, president of Sulam Yaakov, wrote in a letter to the congregation release late Wednesday.

Contributing: Journal News reporter Richard Liebson