We happen to know a thing or two about impersonating an officer, having reviewed a 2008 Dodge Charger Cop Car and been detained by Dearborn police for our troubles. Our tester looked a bit too much the like the real deal, with a white-on-black paint job, working light bar and even a set of bumper bars. Thus, we can sympathize with Jessie Vigil, a Las Vegas resident and disabled Iraq war veteran who transformed his 2007 Mustang into Barricade, the evil Decepticon from the Transformers movie. What would possess a man to turn his Mustang into a movie prop? Well, his 7-year-old son really liked the movie, so now he's got a full-scale Transformers toy.
Vigil created his cop car the right way by first contacting the local authorities and asking if his project were legal. While the Chief Deputy District Attorney discouraged him from doing it, there was nothing on the books that expressly forbade it. The only thing the law prohibits is impersonating an officer, and it was decided Vigil didn't fit that description for two reasons. One, the car is a Mustang and apparently Las Vegas police have no Mustangs in their fleet. Two, the police themselves sell their old cruisers without repainting them, so there's already lots of vehicles running around with white-on-black paint jobs. There are other signs this Decepticon is a dud as well, like the many movie-related vinyl graphics and the totally fake light bar.
While most locals know the car by now, authorities are still concerned that drivers on the interstate might get confused and ask Vigil for help. If we learned anything from Michael Bay's opus last summer, it's don't ask a Mustang cop car for help. They're the evil ones. Thanks for the tip, SwissFreek!
[Source: Fox News, Photo: AP/Las Vegas Optic]
Vigil created his cop car the right way by first contacting the local authorities and asking if his project were legal. While the Chief Deputy District Attorney discouraged him from doing it, there was nothing on the books that expressly forbade it. The only thing the law prohibits is impersonating an officer, and it was decided Vigil didn't fit that description for two reasons. One, the car is a Mustang and apparently Las Vegas police have no Mustangs in their fleet. Two, the police themselves sell their old cruisers without repainting them, so there's already lots of vehicles running around with white-on-black paint jobs. There are other signs this Decepticon is a dud as well, like the many movie-related vinyl graphics and the totally fake light bar.
While most locals know the car by now, authorities are still concerned that drivers on the interstate might get confused and ask Vigil for help. If we learned anything from Michael Bay's opus last summer, it's don't ask a Mustang cop car for help. They're the evil ones. Thanks for the tip, SwissFreek!
[Source: Fox News, Photo: AP/Las Vegas Optic]
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