Groton police who have been looking for the driver of a fake police car that is outfitted with red and blue flashing lights and a siren said on Tuesday they have found the person and the car.
A police officer saw the car driving recklessly on Ford Hill Road in Groton and first thought it could be someone undercover. But when they heard the siren and there were no calls in the area, they knew something wasn't adding up.
The car did nott have markings or license plates properly identifying it as an emergency vehicle, according to police.
The officer chased the car to see who it belonged to and determine whether it was a police or fire vehicle, but the driver sped off, police said.
"The driver was going so fast, the person eluded the officer," said Groton Police Lt. John Varone, who added that the car was probably going about 85 to 100 miles an hour. "This person was operating a vehicle like it was like he was watching TV, like cop movies and stuff."
On Monday, police released a photo of the car captured from a school bus and it has blue and red strobe lights in the front and back of the car, police said on the Groton Police Department's Facebook page.
After police put out the news out that they are looking for the car, they received more reports from people who had also spotted the vehicle in Norwich and Waterford.
Local
Debra Minikowski, of Mystic, said the vehicle in question passed her as she was on the way to the gym.
"I never saw it coming and then, all of the sudden, it was passing me. It was strange," Minikowski said. "And I looked in the mirror and I looked at my neighbor and said, 'What was that?' And it was gone. ... And, until I saw the Facebook posting, that’s when I knew there was something bad about that car that it was not a police car."
"He came flying through, right in front of a school an elementary school where kids walk to school," Varone said. "We need to identify who this person is and we need to get him off the street."
