September 20, 2026 at 12:00

We all make poor choices from time to time. What we hope not to do is compound one bad choice with several others. That’s a lesson not everyone has learned and one man in Arizona proves the point. According to police, he impersonated a police officer, pulled over another motorist, called the real police, and was courteous enough to stick around until they could show up. When they did, they arrested him, not the driver of the car he allegedly illegally pulled over in the first place.

The incident happened at around 8:29 a.m. Thursday on southbound Interstate 17 near Dove Valley Road in Phoenix. According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a man driving a Chevrolet pickup used red-and-blue emergency-style lights mounted on the dashboard to pull over a silver Tesla sedan carrying a man and woman. Here’s where things get strange. AZDPS says the person who reported the incident was the same man who had pulled over the Tesla.

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He remained at the scene, stayed in contact with authorities, and waited for troopers to arrive. That no doubt made the investigation easier. Once troopers got there and spoke with everyone involved, they determined that the Chevy driver had no law-enforcement authority and wasn’t affiliated with any police agency. He was arrested at the scene and booked on a charge of impersonating a police officer. Authorities have not publicly identified him.

Exactly why he allegedly decided that the Tesla needed pulling over isn’t clear, either. More importantly, though, investigators are concerned this might not have been his first attempt at playing highway patrol. AZDPS is asking anyone who may have previously been stopped by the same person or vehicle to come forward.

The truck is described as an older gray or silver Chevrolet 2500-series-style pickup with red-and-blue lights mounted above or behind the dashboard and visible through the windshield. Notably, the truck pictured by police is neither gray or silver but is instead much darker. That said, the driver was reportedly wearing a red polo shirt, dark jeans, and a baseball cap during Thursday’s incident.