Kings County District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson announced on Tuesday that a 20-year-old Brooklyn man has been indicted on charges including impersonating a police officer and menacing for threatening to kill a driver he had pulled over in a phony “traffic stop” in Crown Heights.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant allegedly posed as a police officer and not only terrorized an innocent man, he eroded the public trust in our real police, who face danger while keeping us all safe every day.”

The defendant, Maurice Joiner, 20, of 1519 Lincoln Place in Crown Heights, will be arraigned at a later date in Brooklyn Supreme Court on charges of first-degree criminal impersonation, second-degree criminal impersonation, second-degree menacing, second-degree harassment, possession of an imitation pistol, and possession of mace. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.

District Attorney Thompson said that, according to the investigation, on September 5, 2014, at about 7:40 p.m., a 30-year-old Brooklyn man driving a van with a female passenger in the vicinity of Utica Avenue and Lincoln Place made a U-turn and cut off Joiner’s vehicle, and the two drivers exchanged words.

According to the investigation, Joiner pulled behind the van and put flashing red and blue lights similar to police emergency lights on the dashboard of his own vehicle, a Lincoln Aviator, resulting in the driver of the van pulling over. Joiner allegedly exited his vehicle and approached the van, cursing. The van driver became nervous and drove away. Joiner then got back in his vehicle and pulled alongside the van, displayed what appeared to be a pistol and a police shield and allegedly told the driver he was going to “blow his head off.”

District Attorney Thompson said that according to the investigation, the van passenger took down Joiner’s license plate number and called 911. Police officers from the 77th Precinct pulled Joiner over and found an air pistol, handcuffs, the blue and red light, a gold metal security officer shield, a bulletproof vest and mace.

(YWN Desk – NYC)