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Bogus emergency worker, 29, posed as a policeman and paramedic at scene of road accidents and tried to give first-aid
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UPDATED:
14:57 GMT, 12 December 2012
An unemployed man has been banned from posing as a policeman or paramedic after turning up at the scene of accidents and attempting to give first aid to crash victims.
Lee Westerman, 29, also terrified a motorist by shouting at her and threatening to give her a ticket while driving a car which he had illegally fitted with a siren and flashing lights.
The callous hoaxer was issued with a five-year ASBO as well as being ordered to do unpaid work and hand over compensation to his victims.
Banned: Lee Westerman has been given an ASBO forbidding him to impersonate a policeman or paramedic
Wakefield Magistrates' Court heard how Westerman had equipped his 10-year-old Renault Laguna with a two-tone siren, flashing blue lights on the front and flashing red lights on the rear.
Adding to the deception, he installed surveillance cameras linked to a monitor on the dashboard as well as two hand-held radios.
He was arrested following an encounter with motorist Susan Wright in South Kirkby, West Yorkshire on April 9 where he threatened and intimidated her while pretending to be a policeman.
Westerman pulled up alongside Mrs Wright with his lights flashing and starting shouting at her, claiming she had failed to indicate correctly.
He told her, 'I will give you a ticket next time,' before braking sharply in front of her and then following her to a supermarket car park.
Westerman parked behind the frightened woman and stared at her while talking into his radio.
Sentenced: Westerman was given an ASBO and community service at Wakefield Magistrates' Court, pictured
Giving evidence, Mrs Wright said: 'I was quite unnerved by his manner… The whole situation seemed wrong, not normal.
'In my mind he was trying to make me believe he was a police officer.'
The fraudster also posed as a paramedic, stopping at the scene of a crash in Wakefield in December 2009 with an ambulance sign in his car.
And in October 2010, father-of-two Westerman told a pregnant woman at a Sure Start class that he had a private ambulance and could arrange for her to have a home birth.
When police searched his house, they found a high-visibility jacket with the word 'Ambulance' on it, as well as a sign reading, 'Keep clear emergency parking only' and two rolls of reflective tape.
Magistrates found Westerman guilty of impersonating a traffic officer, threatening behaviour and four charges relating to the lights and siren on his vehicle, plus one offence of using a car likely to cause danger.
As well as the ASBO, he has been subjected to a four-month curfew and 100 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay 200 to Mrs Wright plus 150 in court costs.