A bogus emergency services worker has been banned from posing as a police officer or paramedic for five years.
Magistrates at Wakefield heard Lee Westerman arrived at the scene of road accidents wearing paramedic style clothing and attempted to give first aid to crash victims.
His 10-year-old grey Renault Laguna estate was equipped with a two-tone siren, flashing blue lights under the front grille and flashing red lights in the rear lights. It had front and rear facing cameras linked to a split-screen monitor on the dashboard and two Citizen Band radios were in the vehicle,
The court heard Westerman, 29, of Park Green, Smirthwaite Estate, Normanton, pulled up alongside motorist Susan Wright on Holmsley Lane in South Kirkby at around 7pm on April 9 and started shouting at her, claiming she hadn’t indicated before stopping. Westerman told her “I will give you a ticket next time,” before braking sharply in front of her car with white lights flashing at the rear of his.
Mrs Wright was frightened and drove to the nearby Asda car park, but Westerman followed and parked behind and stared a her while talking in to a hand held radio.
After a trial, magistrates convicted Westerman of impersonating a traffic officer, threatening behaviour and four charges relating to fitting flashing lights and a two-tone siren to his car plus one offence of using car likely to cause danger. The siren was not operational and only one set of flashing lights worked. Prosecutor Rory Byrne applied for a bolt-on Anti Social Behaviour Order after outlining a string of bogus incidents.
Westerman’s car had been spotted at the scene of a road crash on Wood Street, Wakefield in December 2009. It was displaying an ambulance sign and he was wearing a paramedic style uniform.
In October 2010 the unemployed father-of-two told a heavily pregnant woman at a Sure Start class he had a private ambulance and could arrange a home birth. Magistrates handed Westerman a five year ASBO. He was handed a four month 7pm to 7am curfew, 100 hours unpaid work and told him to pay £200 compensation to Mrs Wright plus £150 court costs.