WEST LAFAYETTE — Justin Ewert, 23, of Martinsville, IN, was arrested Aug. 5 in West Lafayette on charges of impersonating a police officer.

A West Lafayette police officer observed Ewert “leap frogging through traffic” and driving recklessly in a black and gray Ford Crown Victoria on a busy section of US 231 North. The car was also equipped with a light on the roof that Ewert had been using as he drove, although the light was white, not the traditional blue and red of police cars.

After the West Lafayette officer stopped Ewert and got a better look at the vehicle, it was also discovered that the car was equipped with a push bar, siren box, video camera, multiple radios and handcuffs hanging from a spotlight, among other things. Officers also found a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun that Ewert was not licensed to carry.

Car that was being driven by Justin Ewert (Photo/WLFI)

“He had said he worked security down in Indianapolis, and basically that he had set the car up that way so that he could put it in the parking lot where he worked and people thought it was a police car,” said West Lafayette Police Capt. Gary Sparger. “So it would deter people from bad behavior.”

Sparger said even if the equipment was meant for good intentions, it is still against the law.

“People need to be able to trust that when they’re getting pulled over the car behind them that’s asking them to yield is an actual police officer,” said Sparger.

Ewert faces a felony charge of impersonating a police officer and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a handgun without a license. He bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail Friday, Aug. 7. He is scheduled to be back in court later in the month.

Source: WLFI