Chevy Silverado Driver Uses Police Lights to Circumvent Traffic, Gets Busted
Just because lights like the ones on this Chevy Silverado are legal to buy, they aren’t necessarily legal to use on the road.
As most of us reasonable folks already know, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. One shining example of this ages-old saying pertains to impersonating a police officer, of course. Sure, we can buy things like fake uniforms and even police lights, but actually playing cop is a great way to get yourself arrested by a real one. And that’s precisely what the owner of this Chevy Silverado found out the hard way recently when he used fake police lights to circumvent traffic near San Francisco, California.
An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer just so happened to be on their way to work when the lifted Chevy Silverado appeared in their rear-view mirror with red and blue lights flashing, so they did what any responsible citizen would do – pull over and let it pass. After all, it’s hard to say if this was some sort of undercover vehicle or one that belongs to another law enforcement agency.
Regardless, the officer still thought it was strange that a modded Silverado was being used as an official police vehicle, so they alerted the local authorities to its presence. Those officers sprung into action and pulled the pickup over, only to discover that the driver was not a law enforcement official. Interestingly, the driver was merely issued a ticket that requires them to remove the lights and then take the truck in for an inspection to verify that they’re gone – it’s up to the district attorney to decide if they want to pursue misdemeanor charges.
Considering all the bad things someone could do while personating an officer, this seems like a proverbial slap on the wrist. But CHP noted that they take into account how far people go when attempting to impersonate an officer, and in this case, the driver seems to have only been using the lights to cut through traffic, not actually pull someone over and commit more nefarious crimes.
Regardless, this little incident is a great reminder that even though you can legally purchase faux emergency lights, that doesn’t mean it’s legal to use them. And while that may seem like common sense, for some folks, it obviously isn’t.
Photos: California Highway Patrol, Chevrolet
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