Man allegedly impersonated police officer to 'make people drive better'

A man in Texas is currently facing a felony charge after he supposedly impersonated a police officer in the hopes of compelling fellow motorists to "drive better."

Around 9 p.m. on the night of February 18, the Parker County Sheriff's Office received a report of a "suspicious blue Dodge pickup" which had been attempting to pull over another driver using blue and red flashing lights which had been mounted the truck's dashboard. The driver of the other vehicle claimed that the Dodge pickup had tailgated him "in an unsafe manner" before "attempting to cut him off of the roadway" and blocking "his vehicle from leaving the area," a press release from the sheriff's office stated.

According to the report, the driver in the pickup attempted to pull the other driver over on Newsom Mound Road in Weatherford, Texas, about 25 miles northwest of Fort Worth. However, rather than comply, the other driver instead "did the right thing," Sheriff Russ Authier said, and "immediately report[ed] the incident to law enforcement."

When deputies arrived on the scene, they located the pickup and identified its driver as Luciano Amador Velazquez, 42, of Parker County, Texas. Velazquez allegedly told the deputies that he mounted the lights to his dashboard and has deployed them in the past to "make people drive better." According to the report, Velazquez also allegedly stated that, in the current case, "he did not agree with the victim’s driving" and therefore attempted to pull him over.

Velazquez was arrested and charged with one count of impersonating a public servant, a third-degree felony which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was booked into Parker County Jail and supposedly held on a $15,000 bond, the New York Post reported, though a recent search of jail records did not list Velazquez as being held in custody.

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