A 50-year-old New York City man was arrested in Red Bank early Monday morning on a charge of impersonating a police officer, according to a news release from the borough police department.
Richard Braunstein, who was identified by the Asbury Park Press as an attorney, is alleged to have directed a 24-year-old woman to pull her car over on West Front Street before dawn Monday.
The woman later told police that as she drove past a car pulled over with its hazard lights flashing, the driver rolled down his window and motioned for her to stop.
According to the victim’s account, she pulled into the lot of the 7-11 store at the corner of West Front and Maple Avenue, where the suspect approached her and asked for directions. Then he “began to ask where she worked, and if she had been drinking that evening,” according to the news release. “The suspect then identified himself as a ‘law enforcement officer’ and ordered her out of the vehicle.”
The woman said she got out of her car and ran into the 7-11. The man then took off in his own car “at a high rate of speed,” according to police. Meanwhile, the woman went to the Red Bank home of a friend and called police.
Within a few minutes of getting the call, Ptl. Gary Watson spotted a vehicle on Reckless Place that matched the description the woman had given. Braunstein, who police say is not in law enforcement, was arrested and charged with impersonating an officer and harassment.
He was held briefly on $5,000 bail imposed by borough Judge William Hintelman and later released from the Monmouth County Correctional Facility.
