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Fake Cop Busted Mid-Stop, and the Whole Thing Was Caught on Video

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It’s never fun when you’re on the road and you see a patrol car flash its lights behind you. It’s even less fun when you’re a fake cop who’s pulled someone else over and that happens to you.

That’s a lesson Brenden Wysynski learned the hard way.

The teenage cop impersonator is spending a year on probation after a viral video of him cosplaying as a sheriff’s deputy ended very badly.

Wysynski was arrested in September after an Albuquerque, New Mexico, police officer saw a man in a dodgy police outfit conducting a traffic stop, according to KRQE-TV.

The young man said he was with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, an excuse about as believable as his getup.

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“For starters, I know this looks really bad,” Wysynski can be heard saying in bodycam video. “This screams, ‘whacker.'”

It did, in fact, look really bad.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.



“You can’t be pretending to be a cop,” the officer told the sheriff’s “deputy.”

“Yeah, it was stupid,” he responded.

That’s not quite the half of it.

The 18-year-old Wysynski ended up facing misdemeanor charges of impersonating a peace officer. According to KOAT-TV, police got a search warrant for his car and found “a revolver, six magnum cartridges, a siren speaker system, a Go Pro camera mounted on the windshield, a red and white LED light bar and a police scanner.”

“The vehicle that conducted the traffic stop didn’t have any markings, and the person that was standing outside wasn’t wearing a uniform, didn’t have any equipment on them,” Albuquerque Police Officer Danny Anzo said.

Wysynski originally claimed he’d been with the sheriff’s office for a year and that he’d caught the driver of the car “going 120 down I-40.” He said he kept his ID in his uniform.

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This quickly fell apart, of course.

“I’m just going to be straight up honest with you,” he said. “I’m not a cop.”

He admitted that he bought his sheriff’s badge online, although he’d later claim the badge belonged to his late father. The rest of his outfit — a polo shirt, jeans and a baseball cap — was pretty easy to track down if you were so inclined.

The driver in the traffic stop said that “the entire situation felt suspicious and he was afraid.” He also said Wysynski seemed “scared.”

He pleaded not guilty in September and was released until trial. Judge Sandra Engel had some unusual stipulations for his release, however.

“You are not to have any deadly weapons, firearms, knives, I’m going to go as far and say handcuffs. I really don’t want you to have anything that will lend towards this crime,” she said.

To be fair, the 18-year-old clearly has some emotional issues.

In February, Wysynski’s defense had filed a motion to allow his mother to testify at his trial about his upbringing, along with a psychologist who would talk about a “psychological condition” that might explain the situation.

The prosecution said the witnesses would “confuse the issue, waste time, and mislead the jury regarding what is necessary for the state to prove and what the defense can offer to disprove those elements.”

“The DA is arguing that this witness isn’t relevant. How could someone’s mental health not be relevant? Knowing about Brenden’s mental health issues, which include autism, provides crucial context to what happened that day,” his attorneys said. “The District Attorney’s Office here is really missing an opportunity to help this kid.”

This cri de coeur was pretty much his defense’s major argument throughout the case.

“We’re looking at a young man who in this case wasn’t out to hurt anyone. It seems he was concerned about community safety,” Wysynski public defender Carlos Scarborough said in a statement last fall, according to The Washington Post. “This teenager has admired law enforcement for a long time and respects the work they do.”

Indeed, The Post couldn’t help but pointing all of this out: “Wysynski’s Facebook page shows an affinity toward law enforcement and the armed services. He has liked the pages for many New Mexico-based law enforcement agencies, pro-cop President Trump and even the Blue Lives Matter page.”

Well, help he does indeed require, but that doesn’t obviate the seriousness of what Wysynski did. This was a threat to public safety and a small but palpable drain on police resources.

Earlier this month, according to The Associated Press, Wysynski pleaded no contest to the charge of impersonating a peace officer.

Do you think this sentencing was fair?

The legal system did indeed give him a break at his March 16 sentencing, however. He won’t spend any time in jail unless he gets in trouble during his year on probation.

If he does, he’ll end up spending up to a year behind bars. He’ll also be evaluated to see what counseling, if any, could be of use to him.

Oh, and that handcuffs ban? That remains in place, too.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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