Bainbridge Public Safety arrested three teenagers Saturday night for allegedly impersonating law enforcement using lights and a loudspeaker to pull drivers over on Tallahassee Highway near Home Depot.
Dylan James Griner, 17, of Brinson, Hunter Dewayne Strickland, 17, of Bainbridge, and Megan Tate Smith, 17, of Bainbridge, were each charged with impersonating a public officer or employee. Griner and Strickland were also charged with possession of tobacco products.
Witnesses said that a large white pickup truck began driving behind them, and using “lights, sirens and a loudspeaker, the vehicle commanded [the witness] to ‘PULL OVER,’” according to the BPS incident report.
The witnesses were able to identify the vehicle traveling on Alice Street, and upon a traffic stop, PSO Emory Deen observed a strobe style emergency light mounted to the center of the windshield and a megaphone in the lap of the rear passenger.
“Strickland stated he had been holding the megaphone. As Smith drove up quickly behind vehicles, he would use the siren on the megaphone and then yell at the cars to ‘PULL OVER,’” according to the report.
According to O.C.G.A. 16-10-23, impersonating a police officer “shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, or both.”