Ruston Police arrested a Choudrant man last week after he allegedly utilized lights and a siren on his personal vehicle to simulate a police car.
Nathan Joyner, 27, was arrested July 24 for false personation of a peace officer after a RPD sergeant saw him activate flashing lights and a horn similar to those on emergency vehicles, such as police cars and fire engines.
According to an RPD report, Joyner was traveling east on Park Avenue approaching the North Vienna Street intersection in a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo. When a truck northbound on Vienna Street approached the same intersection, the officer heard an audible horn coming from the direction of Joyner’s vehicle. As a truck passed through the intersection, Joyner turned behind it and the officer saw flashing white lights activate from the windshield and other areas on Joyner’s vehicle.
Once Joyner was stopped, he said he was not trying to impersonate an officer, but showed how to activate the lights and horn. The act Joyner performed by pulling out behind the vehicle and activating the flashing lights and horn was nearly identical to the procedure used by police to conduct a traffic stop, according to the report.
According to the Louisiana statue regarding false impersonation, equipping a motor vehicle with lights or sirens to simulate a law enforcement vehicle is prohibited.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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