Cop impersonator on the loose

A man impersonating a plain-clothes police officer is still on the loose, more than a week after four incidents were reported in Scarborough.

The incidents occurred on Jan. 16, in the Morningside Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East area.

In the first incident, the suspect, driving a pickup truck, followed a man and a woman while continuously flashing his headlights around 9 p.m.  While still driving, he communicated through his window with the victims, identifying himself as an officer.

After telling the couple to pull over, the suspect approached the vehicle and examined the driver’s licence.    According to Staff Sgt. Kevin Murrell in a Toronto Sun interview, the suspect said something about a turning violation and let them off with a verbal warning.

More than an hour-and-half later, a man driving a pickup truck approached four young girls walking in the area, demanding they approach his truck.  The man threatened to shoot them when they ignored him.  The girls then ran off and contacted police.

Ten minutes later, at 10:50 p.m., the suspect swerved his truck in front of a victim’s vehicle blocking its path.  Again, the suspect identified himself as a police officer and told the victim to pull over, but the victim fled the area and contacted police.

The fourth incident occurred just before midnight.  The suspect followed a car with two women inside, again flashing the headlights of his pickup truck until they pulled over.  When he approached their car, the man began tapping the window with a black object resembling a gun.  The two women fled the scene.

The man is described as white, between 30 to 40 years old, with short or shaved brown hair.  He has a medium build and is between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9, and weights about 170 pounds. During his spree, he was  wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and sporting unshaven facial hair.

The suspect’s pickup truck is described as a newer model vehicle, possibly a grey or silver Dodge Ram.  It’s said to have bright headlights and may have running lights on the cab roof.