CLEVELAND — Andrew Alexander was being followed on Clark Avenue in Cleveland, headed westbound in his 2019 Dodge Charger.
"I'm driving — and I'm very vigilant, very aware of my surroundings ... and I see a vehicle following me," Alexander recalled. "I actually made the last turn of my night — a right turn on 48th — and that's when they lit up the lights, and when they lit up the lights, I immediately do exactly what I'm supposed to do when you see lights like that, you know? I pulled over."
Understandably, Alexander thought it was the police. He never expected what happened next.
"I hear, 'Hands up! Hands up!'" he said. "I put my hands up, and as I look out, I see guys with ski masks."
Four men (or possibly teens) with ski masks and guns pointed in Alexander's face. He had just become the fourth victim of a Cleveland police impersonation scam, where the driver is robbed and often times carjacked after being pulled over. Incident have occurred on the east and west sides, with investigators releasing these pictures of the suspect vehicles — a black Dodge Durango and Jeep Cherokee.
Tuesday morning, police followed a Durango they believed had been used in some of the robberies. The man driving it was arrested on an outstanding warrant, although his exact connection to the impersonation scheme is unknown. Cleveland Police Sergeant Jennifer Ciaccia did say this about one of the victims who got away.
"The victim in that case did exactly what we would want someone to do: They called 911, said that they were being pulled over," Ciaccia explained. "They didn't believe it was by real police, and that man actually stayed on cellphone with the dispatchers until he got to somewhere safe,"
As for Andrew, the fake police took his car, phones, wallet, and his gun, for which he has a legal concealed carry permit.
"I was going to draw on them, and there [were] too many of them," he said. "I was outmanned, outgunned. I'd rather have my life."
Surveillance video shows the very moment Alexander was being followed, he was followed by a 2020 Kia Sportage, separate from the vehicles already targeted by authorities. However, the cameras were not able to catch a glimpse of the suspects.