A Westchester County rabbi accused of angrily flashing a badge at several other motorists has been arrested for the third time on a charge of impersonating a police officer.
Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski was arrested in connection with an incident on Interstate 87 in Yonkers in April, state police said.
He is accused of confronting drivers who he felt drove too slowly or cut him off, displaying a phony badge and ordering them to pull over.
His arrest Thursday came just a few hours after he pleaded not guilty to a similar incident in Mamaroneck in June and less than 24 hours after his arrest in White Plains for an alleged episode in May.
State police said in the Yonkers incident, Borodowski was videotaped flashing a badge by a passenger in the other car. That footage has not been released.
In the Mamaroneck case, which occurred last month, Borodowski is accused of pulling his Camry alongside a woman’s car, flashing a badge and shouting: “Police! Police! Pull over!”
“The driver started honking and screaming at her and pulled up alongside her at a red light and directed her to pull over to the side and the driver held up a badge,” said Richard Clifford, who represents the woman. ”That led to her complaint to the police department.”
Borodowski told police he was angry about her slow driving. He denied posing as a police officer.
His lawyer, Andrew Rubin, entered the plea in Mamaroneck Village Court after prosecutor Diana Hedayati agreed to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Judge Daniel Gallagher ordered a psychiatric evaluation and adjourned the case to Sept. 12. Rubin has said the rabbi suffers from bipolar disorder.
Clifford said his 24-year-old client, who asked for her name to not be released, feels a sense of satisfaction that other victims have come forward.
Borodowski was terminated from his position as executive director of the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El on East 65th Street earlier this month, but he is still listed as the rabbi at Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont.
(AP)
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9 Responses
If the man has a mental disorder (as his lawyer claims), then leave him alone. Let’s not have any “reform rabbi” comments. Please.
He isn’t a “Reformed” rabbi; he was ordained by a Masorti (Conservative) seminary in Argentina.
While I agree with No. 1’s comment about not having any reform rabbi comments, I do have this question for the YWN editors: Only the headline identifies the rabbi as reform. Perhaps Temple Emanuel of East 65th Street in a town or city whose name cannot be said is a known reform synagogue, or any of the rabbi’s other affiliations make clear that he is a reform rabbi, but making things clear is the job of the YWN editors, and in that they failed this time.
#1- whats wrong with reform rabbi comments exactly?
“Clifford said his 24-year-old client, who asked for her name to not be released, feels a sense of satisfaction that other victims have come forward.”
victims? seriously, grow up, this is not a molestation case.
#1 Are there any reform rabbits who do not have mental disorder? Are WoWs their wives?
Would not confining people based on pretending to be a policeman be a form of kidnapping. This suggests those ordered around were indeed victims.
#5 What is a reform rabbit? Is that one that doesn’t do what normal rabbits do?
No. 5: Did you actually intend to say that all reform rabbis have mental disorders? Or were you really referring to the family Leporidae?
should have been arrested for impersonating a Rabbi