Teens accused of impersonating police officer turn themselves in, Kansas sheriff says

Two teenagers accused of impersonating a police officer and pulling over other vehicles on a highway have turned themselves in, a Kansas sheriff’s office said.

The teens turned themselves in Thursday morning after the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office made a Facebook post on Wednesday about the incidents, detective Sgt. Jacob Welsh said in a pair of news releases. The teens are an unidentified 17-year-old boy and 18-year-old Joseph Hawes, both of Emporia.

The teens are accused of using red and blue lights in the windshield area of a silver passenger car to pull over other vehicles at least twice on K-99 between Emporia and Olpe, the sheriff’s office said. After the vehicles pulled over, the car with the red and blue lights would drive around them and leave without contacting the occupants. The incidents were reported to law enforcement at around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The sheriff’s office referred to their alleged conduct as impersonating a police officer and said formal charges are pending through the Lyon County Attorney’s Office.

“If you are ever being pulled over and something doesn’t feel right, call 9-1-1 and report it immediately,” Welsh said. “The Sheriff’s Office does have marked patrol vehicles and unmarked patrol vehicles, but all personnel will have a badge and identification as to who they are, whether they are in plain clothes or in uniform.”

This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 3:11 PM.