Fake police badge led to woman’s arrest
After publishing our first material and recordings on Facebook from a Poznań intersection, where a taxi passenger tried to persuade the driver to cross a red light, the case was taken up by the Provincial Police Headquarters in Poznań.
The recording was posted on Nowiny Wschodnie and Facebook.
The video material was forwarded to the editorial office Eastern News, and then posted on social media. The video quickly began circulating online and generated significant interest from internet users.
The footage shows a woman driving a taxi demanding to continue driving despite a red light. She pleads with the driver that she’s in a hurry and shows him an item she describes as a “police badge” or ID.
However, the recording itself did not reveal who the woman was or whether she had any authority to give instructions to the driver.
“This is a mandate light”
The taxi driver acted in accordance with traffic regulations. He refused to proceed through a red light and remained at the intersection until the signal changed.
At one point in the recording, his words can be heard:
– This is a mandate light.
According to information provided to the editorial office, the driver was a Ukrainian citizen who did not give in to pressure from the passenger and did not break the law.
Police position: woman impersonated a police officer
After the recording was published, the case was taken up by Provincial Police Headquarters in Poznań. In subsequent announcements, the Police informed about the progress of the findings.
“Police have identified the woman in the taxi. She is not a police officer or a civilian employee,” the official statement said.
According to the police, the item shown to the driver it was not a police ID or service ID. The woman was detained and taken to the Provincial Police Headquarters building in Poznań, where procedural activities were carried out in her presence.
Charge under the Penal Code
In another statement, the Greater Poland Police informed that the woman was charged with Article 227 of the Penal Code, concerning impersonation of a public official.
This type of act is punishable by up to a year of imprisonment. The collected materials were forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.
Journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Nowiny Wschodnie, a news platform followed by more than 140,000 people on social media. A graduate in Journalism and Social Communication, he has been co-creating and developing Nowiny Wschodnie since 2017. He gained professional experience working with local and international media.
He specializes in fact-checking, countering disinformation and propaganda, and information security. His work focuses on Poland, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Polish-Ukrainian relations. He is also the founder of a non-profit organization working in the fields of integration and intercultural dialogue.
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