Cleveland County teen spends 2 days impersonating officer, pulls over 6 drivers

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A Cleveland County man has shared a warning after being pulled over by a teen impersonating an officer, complete with a gun, car, and tactical vest.

According to investigators, the teen pulled over a total of six people using emergency lights in the windshield. He was arrested just before making his last stop south of Kings Mountain.

Channel 9 Gaston County bureau reporter Ken Lemon was able to catch up with the last driver pulled over, Mark Mull.

Mull told Lemon that he got the same feeling all drivers get when they think they see an officer’s car in their rearview mirror. He said the car behind him looked very similar to a real patrol car; it was a black Dodge Charger with lights in the windshield.

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But it wasn’t an officer; it was a 17-year-old behind the wheel at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday. Officials haven’t released the identity of the teenager because of his age.

“What’s a 17-year-old doing out this time of day?” Mull said.

According to York County investigators, the teen was just playing and said he did it “for fun”. They say the teen admitted to patrolling Highway 161 for two days, where he stopped six drivers and let all of them off with a verbal warning.

Mull said that when the teen pulled him over, two real officers showed up and began shouting at the teen.

“I could hear them saying stuff like, Get on the ground, show me your hands,” Mull said.

Cleveland County investigators searched the teen’s car and found an airsoft gun painted black. That discovery frightened Cleveland County Chief Deputy Durwin Briscoe.

“It can look like some of the weapons we carry as law enforcement officers,” Briscoe said.

Mull told Lemon that he worries that the story might have had a different ending if someone had realized the teen wasn’t a real officer and saw that gun. He had one piece of advice to share with the young man accused of pretending to be an officer.

“Straighten your life up before it’s too late,” Mull said. “You are lucky it was me and not someone that would have killed you.”

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