Man arrested in Grosse Pointe Shores for driving illegally modified cop car

Mar 13, 2018 at 12:54 pm
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click to enlarge Man arrested in Grosse Pointe Shores for driving illegally modified cop car
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It's totally fine to purchase a former police vehicle at auction, but modifying it to still appear as an active cruiser — that's a hard NOPE.

Grosse Pointe Shores police pulled over a man driving such a vehicle, and arrested him after discovering he'd even rigged a switch underneath the dashboard to operate emergency lights.

Police spotted the lookalike cruiser Monday morning. The vehicle was painted the signature MSP blue and bore a striking resemblance with its flashing lights, hood sign, and aggressive grill.

A Grosse Pointe Shores police lieutenant tells WDIV he saw the car a few weeks prior and thought it was odd.

"I pulled over thinking it was a trooper. It was not," Lt. Scott Rohr says.

When he saw it again Monday, officers in a marked cruiser had pulled it over for tinted windows, discovering after his arrest that it had a switch under the dash to operate the lights.

"Civilians should not have emergency lights in their vehicle, and certainly not look specifically like a police car," Rohr says.

According to WDIV, police do not believe he was attempting to impersonate an officer and did not find a badge or vest in the vehicle.

Because the man did not have insurance, the car was impounded, and the emergency lights have been removed.

In a tweet, MSP advised citizens to call 911 if they ever doubt the authenticity of a police officer.