Retired cop guilty of impersonating a police officer

A retired Niagara Regional Police officer who conducted a vigilantestyle traffic stop against a woman he felt was driving dangerously has been found guilty of impersonating a police officer.

“You have no more authority than any other citizen,” Judge Joseph Nadel said before granting Edward Pittman an absolute discharge.

The discharge means Pittman, 63, will not have a criminal conviction. He was ordered to enter into a common-law peace bond for 12 months and told to stay away from the motorist he stopped on Moyer Road in Welland on Sept. 24, 2016.

Pittman, who retired from the police force in 2012 after 36 years of service, testified he was on his way home that afternoon when a motorist cut him off and gave him the middle finger.

He said when the woman cut him off a second time he decided to follow her.

His plan was to stop the vehicle and call police so there would be a record of her hazardous driving behaviour.

“People shouldn’t use their vehicles as weapons,” he said, adding the woman’s driving was “very aggressive and very dangerous.”

“My concern was the safety of other people on the road. I felt this driver needed to be stopped.”

Pittman said he drove around her and then slowed down, activating his four-way flashers.

He called 911 to report a driver was “driving like an idiot.” He then waited for a police officer to arrive and gave a statement.

“I’ve seen some incredibly bad drivers over the years and I felt that this (driving) was way too aggressive to ignore,” he said.

The woman’s version of events, however, was drastically different than that of the retired officer.

The motorist testified in a St. Catharines courtroom Monday that Pittman tried to run her off the road.

“He had a badge in his hand, motioning me to pull over,” she told assistant Crown attorney Murray de Vos.

“I was extremely scared. He wasn’t going to leave me alone. He was persistent.”

She said when she pulled over to call 911 the man got out of his vehicle and ran up to her car.

“He was screaming at me to get out,” she said. “He was calling me an idiot. He said, ‘your family will never be safe.’”

She said Pittman never identified himself as a police officer, although the 911 operator told her he was a retired officer.

“The 911 operator was telling me I was OK, I was safe. But, I wasn’t safe,” she said. “I really believed he was going to hurt me.”

She said Pittman tried to enter her vehicle and kept banging on her window.

Defence counsel Michael Delgobbo questioned the woman on why there was no mention of her claim Pittman tried to enter her car in her statement to police or in her call to 911.

“It wasn’t said but it did happen,” she said.

Pittman insisted he never tried to open the car door. “I was never within an arm’s reach of the vehicle.”

The judge said the woman’s testimony was, at times, inconsistent and inaccurate.

“I don’t know where the truth lies,” Nadel said.