Updated 04/04/2008 06:14 PM
Man reports attack by blue-light bandit
By: News 14 Carolina Web Staff
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CABARRUS COUNTY -- A man posing as a police officer robbed someone after pulling the driver over on Old Charlotte Road.
A 30-year-old man said he pulled over when he saw blue lights behind him.
“It was a possible blue light bandit,” said Sheriff Brad Riley of Cabarrus County.
The suspect was driving a car often used by cops -- a white Crown Victoria. The car followed the victim from downtown Concord, down Old Charlotte Road, across Highway 49 to Rocky River Road. The victim said the license plate started with the letter “K.” Sheriff Riley is concerned someone used a blue light and other cop gear to pull over and rob the driver.
“[A man with] a shield-type badge on his belt approached the vehicle, as to be an officer and shortly after asked [the driver] for license and registration, brandished a gun and attempted to rob our citizen,” said Riley.
In a matter of minutes, an online search shows it's pretty easy to find a replica police badge. One listed online Friday was running for $19.43. It's a lot more difficult to find a blue light.
The man says the suspect pulled him over on Old Charlotte Road, near Rocky River Road.
“I would say it is difficult to get a blue light and maybe even badges and things of that nature, but it's not impossible,” said Riley.
The sheriff is concerned because a person with a blue light stirs fear within the public. “It takes an awful lot of effort to build public trust and then you take an incident like this and it just removes some of that trust,” he said.
That trust is something real officers might now have to gain back from the community. A Kannapolis police officer said he was familiar with a car that matched the blue light bandit description. The officer said the white Crown Victoria could have been involved in a drug deal.
Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 704-93-CRIME.