A teen driver in Michigan has been charged with filing a false police report after claiming she was targeted by a Black man impersonating a police officer.
The News-Herald reports 17-year-old Faith Gentry refused to speak at her arraignment Tuesday, leaving whether she wanted to plead guilty undetermined. Her lack of response was taken as a not-guilty plea.
According to Fox2Detroit, Gentry claimed to have been pulled over by a Black man in a black Ford Fusion with "police" written on the side in gray on March 1. She said the man appeared to be a member of the Wyandotte Police Department.
"He didn't ask me for my registration, he didn't ask my insurance papers, any of that," the teen driver said.
Gentry told authorities the officer, who she described as a tall, Black man with a thin physique and scruffy hair, appeared to be in uniform.
"He did have a badge on his shoulder and the button-up [shirt] and the belt," she said. "But the only thing on his belt was a gun."
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Initially, the Wyandotte Police Department was concerned a fake police officer was roaming the streets. The force said the man couldn't be one of its enforcers as the Department doesn't employ any Black officers.
Gentry claimed the man insisted her blinker was out, and her license plate was not visible but grew suspicious given she had just had her car serviced. She told the actual officers the Black "cop" told her she would receive a ticket in the mail.
Officers of the Southgate Police Department also questioned the teen, as she said the stop occurred at the border of Wyandotte and Southgate. Southgate officials said Gentry buckled under pressure and admitted she had fabricated the entire story after being questioned by investigators.
"Public safety is our main concern and we cannot have or tolerate [hoaxes] and fear being put into our residents minds," the Southgate police wrote in a statement. "The police officers out working the streets of Downriver cannot do their jobs (efficiently and effectively) with this type of behavior."
Gentry, a student at Southgate Anderson High School, had her bond set to $25,000. Her pretrial hearing is set to begin on Friday.
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