Westchester Woman Arrested For Impersonating A Police Officer

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A New Rochelle woman has been arrested in connection to a bizarre road rage incident that occurred on Interstate-691 in Connecticut last year.

On March 23, shortly after 8 a.m., Connecticut state troopers received a call about a dispute on the highway.

The caller explained to the trooper at the scene that he was traveling on I-691 eastbound on the Exit 10 ramp in heavy traffic when he noticed a gray Jeep Cherokee to the left of his vehicle, attempting to force its way onto the exit ramp, despite there not being enough room for the Jeep to merge.

To avoid being hit by the Jeep, the driver said he was forced onto the right shoulder.

The driver said he then moved into the middle lane, preparing to merge onto the highway, but again noticed that the Jeep was traveling immediately to his right and the Jeep's driver, later identified as Kimberly N. Nelson, lowered her window and began speaking to him using obscenities.

The driver who called troopers said that he began traveling behind the Jeep on Route 15 southbound as it exited the highway. He told police that Nelson abruptly applied the Jeep’s brakes in the middle of the exit ramp, forcing him to do the same to avoid a collision, before continuing on East Main Street and entering a parking lot.

The driver told police that he had been on a 911 call and disconnected the call as the Jeep drove up beside him and Nelson lowered her windows to speak to him. During the exchange, he warned her that police were on the way. At this point, Nelson allegedly responded by saying "I'm law enforcement — let me show you my badge. Let’s talk about it," according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators say Nelson then displayed a gold-colored badge and ID in a wallet before driving out of the parking lot. The other driver was able to get the New York license plate number on the Jeep and gave the information to the responding trooper. Additionally, his vehicle was equipped with a camera system which had recorded these alleged interactions.

During the investigation, the driver played back the video recording of the incident for the trooper to view. The face of the Jeep operator was not visible, but police say the audio portion of the recording corroborated the allegations that Nelson claimed that she was law enforcement. The video recording also appeared to show her slamming her brakes on the Route 15 southbound exit 67S off ramp. A copy of the audio/video recording was processed as evidence.

The trooper later identified the 25-year-old driver of the Jeep as Nelson.

On May 18, the investigating trooper made contact with Nelson by phone and obtained a brief account of the events leading up to the exchange. During the phone conversation, Nelson explained that she may have given the complainant the middle finger and showed the complainant a badge. It was determined by police that Nelson was not a member of law enforcement. The trooper advised Nelson that they would need to coordinate a meeting to further discuss the incident.

Following the phone conversation with Nelson, the trooper attempted multiple times to contact Nelson by phone to coordinate a meeting, with no success. Based upon the information obtained during the investigation, the trooper applied for and was granted a warrant for the arrest of Nelson and on Feb 20, after learning of the active warrant for her arrest, Nelson turned herself in at Troop I in Bethany. She was taken into custody, processed and charged with breach of peace, reckless endangerment and impersonation of a police officer.

She was released on a $5,000 cash bond, and is scheduled for arraignment on March 6.