Real cop busts a suspected phony

A man with a pair of emergency strobe lights mounted on his car might have fooled passing motorists into thinking he was a police officer. But the real police say the man gave himself away Friday on the Durham Freeway when he pulled up behind a driver who turned out to be a real officer.

About 12:30 a.m. Friday, Benjamin Andrew Carroll, 24, of Durham was driving a gray Ford Crown Victoria north on N.C. 147, pushing the car to more than 100 mph, said Durham police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb.

Gottlieb also was on N.C. 147, near the exit for Ellis Road. In the rear-view mirrors of his marked police vehicle, Gottlieb could see the Crown Victoria speeding up to reach him.

Red-and-white strobe lights frantically flashed behind Gottlieb's police vehicle as the Crown Victoria slowed behind him.

"They flipped on the lights like they were trying to pull me over," the sergeant said. He noticed the pursuing car was missing hubcaps. The light from a computerized global positioning system cast a blue glow inside the car. All made the Crown Victoria look like an unmarked police cruiser, Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb moved his marked vehicle, a white Chevrolet Tahoe with "Police" spelled out in reflective letters, to the right of the highway. The Crown Victoria swerved around the Tahoe, then turned off the pulsing lights, Gottlieb said.

When the car veered right onto an exit ramp for Briggs Avenue, it was Gottlieb's turn to use his flashing red-and-blue lights.

When Gottlieb spoke with Carroll and another man in the car, the passenger said he believed Carroll was a police officer, and that Gottlieb stopped them so he could talk to his colleague.

Police had received complaints in the past about a gray Crown Victoria approaching citizens in a similar fashion, but hadn't found it, Gottlieb said.

Carroll, of 607 W. Markham Ave., was charged with driving while impaired, driving while his license was revoked, exceeding the posted speed of 65 mph and driving without insurance. He was also charged with impersonating an officer and the improper use of emergency lights.

Carroll's blood-alcohol level was .14, Gottlieb said. The state legal limit for blood-alcohol concentration for motorists is .08.

The emergency lights were removed from the car, along with a pair of handcuffs. Carroll was being held Saturday in the Durham County jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.