CLAY COUNTY, Mo. — The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says it investigated a report about a possible police impersonator and closed the investigation.
Monday, the sheriff’s office warns a person driving a gray jeep tried to stop someone on Plattsburg Road near Kearney Sunday, March 12.
Tuesday, the office said deputies determined the report is the same case that deputies in Clinton County are investigating. Clinton County deputies will continue with the investigation.
Deputies warn a similar thing also happened in DeKalb County. A man reported someone in a Jeep outfitted with blue and red lights in the dash stopped him.
Austin Admire says he was stopped north of Maysville, Missouri in DeKalb County.
He sent a photo to his girlfriend as he was stopped on a cold, mid-February morning. Admire believes the vehicle was a newer model gray or silver GMC Yukon Denali SUV.
Admire is still shaken up and didn’t want to be interviewed, but his girlfriend’s mother, Karen Cannon, spoke with FOX4 about the ordeal.
“[The officer impersonator] went up to the car and asked why he was going so slow,” Cannon said. “And he said, “Well, the roads are icy,’ and he then looked in the back. [The officer] asked if there was anything inside the vehicle that he should be aware of. Austin said, ‘No, there’s nothing, and he just said, ‘Have a good day, be careful, be safe,’ and he left.”
Admire says the officer had brown hair and a short beard. He was in a tan uniform with a utility belt, but Clinton County deputies say there have been no reports of guns.
“There was a name tag,” Cannon said. “He did not have a name, but it said, ‘County Sheriff.”
Admire called his girlfriend, who reported it to dispatch. His family won’t feel comfortable on the road until this person is caught.
“What scares me is he may be trying to see how far he can push it,” Cannon said. “And then what if he grabs someone next time? That’s my fear.”
The Report in Clinton County says a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee and a dark-colored Ford Explorer are being used. They are now working to determine if one person is using multiple cars, or if there is more than one person impersonating a police officer.
The sheriff’s office warns drivers to call 911 if a Jeep tries to stop them. Stay on the phone with dispatchers, but do not stop until verifying an actual officer is involved in the stop.
