Kevin Armstrong, 63, who forced Morium Akther, 24, to pull over and told her ‘We can either do this the nice way or the nasty way’
A motorist who impersonated a police officer and threatened a young woman after forcing her to pull over has walked free from court.
Morium Akther was driving to work when Kevin Armstrong drove beside her, while flashing white LED lights from his dashboard, telling her to stop.
Believing he was a police officer, terrified Morium, 24, parked her car on a slip road near Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, and wound her window down.
The 63-year-old told her she was speeding and driving dangerously and that he was going to issue her with a speeding ticket.
When she denied this, he told her ‘we can either do this the nice way or the nasty way’.
Morium was saved by a commuter who realised Armstrong was pretending to be a police officer and scared him off.
Armstrong was found guilty of impersonating a police officer at South Tyneside Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to three other driving offences.
However he was able to walk away from court with a £620 fine, points on his licence and community service.
Data manager Morium, from Newcastle, said: ‘He pulled his car next to mine and was yelling at me to pull over.
‘He had flashing lights on his car and I thought he was a police officer.
‘He said I was speeding and pulling in and out of lanes.
‘When I told him I wasn’t he became more aggressive and said he would give me a speeding ticket.
‘I completely froze, I didn’t know what was going on. I’ve never been pulled over by the police so I didn’t know if this was a normal way for them to behave.
‘Eventually, another driver pulled up and told me he wasn’t a police officer and I could leave.’
She added: ‘I never found out what his intentions were, but it’s terrifying to think of.
‘If he told me to get out of my car and go in his, I would have.
‘I was so frightened and I would have left my phone in my car in my panic.
‘He could have done anything to me.’
Morium Akther, 24, from Newcastle, said she was terrified by Armstrong and would have done what he said if another commuter didn’t step in and help
Morium added: ‘He seemed very creepy and his tone was aggressive.
‘After I drove away I thought about how it could have been so much worse.
‘I kept thinking that I could have been hurt or killed.
‘When he was pulling me over, I didn’t think I was in danger as I believed he was a legitimate police officer.’
Armstrong pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle and stopping it on a road designated as a clearway, permitting a vehicle to remain at rest on a road so as to involve a danger and using a vehicle with an automatically emitted a flashing light.
He initially denied impersonating a police officer but was found guilty at South Tyneside Magistrates Court.
Morium (above) said: ‘He seemed very creepy and his tone was aggressive. After I drove away I thought about how it could have been so much worse. I kept thinking that I could have been hurt or killed’
Mr Armstrong, of Farndale Drive, Guisborough, North Yorkshire, had to pay a £620 fine.
He also received three points on his license, 120 hours unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation requirements.
Sharon Bryan, Head of Partnerships and Development at the National Centre for Domestic Violence, has slammed the lenient sentence.
She said: ‘It’s not a deterrent at all. Whatever buzz or thrill he gets from doing this will outweigh the punishment he’s received.
‘The frightening thing is we don’t know what could have happened if someone hadn’t intervened.
‘It’s not dramatic to say that if these behaviours aren’t stopped they can lead to more violence and women being killed.’
Morium has also criticised the sentence, and claims he got off lightly.
She said: ‘He got off lightly. Three points for pulling someone over and scaring the life out of them is nothing.
‘Whenever I see flashing lights I get really scared and think it’s him.
‘I didn’t leave my house for a week after the incident.
‘In the aftermath, I thought of the Sarah Everard case, I know Wayne Couzens was actually a police officer but you never know what someone is capable of.
‘He could have done anything to me.’
Armstrong was found guilty of impersonating a police officer at South Tyneside Magistrates Court
DailyMail
