Rockland man charged with playing cop, stopping pedestrian

SPRING VALLEY – A 22-year-old man driving a car equipped with emergency lights has been charged with playing cop after stopping a man Tuesday and questioning a man about a stolen cell phone, police said.

After the police showed up, Eliyahu Medina got a first-hand lesson on being booked on a felony charge of first-degree criminal impersonation.

Officers arrested him at police headquarters following the incident at 1:15 a.m. on South Main Street and Furman Avenue.

"Several parties were blocking traffic and conducting some type of investigation," Spring Valley police Detective Robert Bookstein said. "The real police responded and one of the parties claimed to be a police officer."

Bookstein said Medina allegedly followed, stopped and detained the other man while questioning him about a cell phone. The man stopped by Medina told police that he had no knowledge of a cell phone, Bookstein said.

Medina's 2014 black car simulated a police vehicle with emergency lights, light bars on the windshield and rear windows, and a computer mount inside the vehicle.

Bookstein said police were investigating whether Medina had legal authorization to have a car equipped with emergency lighting. Certain first-responders can equipped their vehicles for emergencies.

"Certain affiliations you can have those lights," Bookstein said. "We don't know his affiliations."

Medina, a resident of Hadassah Lane, was arraigned and released for Justice Court hearings on the charge. He is a volunteer with the Monsey Fire Department.

Twitter: @lohudlegal