Last December, a guy named Thomas Georgevitch was arrested for impersonating an NYPD officer. The 40-year-old was known to walk around wearing a bulletproof vest, handcuffs, a radio, and a holstered gun, and the authorities found a stash of fake firearms, ammunition, and badges inside of his Bronx apartment. On Friday, the New York Daily News reported that Georgevitch received some help for his cop act — from a real lieutenant in the 52nd Precinct.
From the Daily News:
[The Internal Affairs Bureau] is looking into claims that before he was arrested, Georgevitch was seen chauffeuring [Lt. Kevin Maloney] in a marked radio car and on at least one occasion Georgevitch was operating the police vehicle alone.
There are also claims that Georgevitch, 40, attended precinct roll calls. He also may have accompanied a detail of cops from the precinct to a massive demonstration in Manhattan on Dec. 4 protesting the decisions of grand juries in Staten Island and Ferguson, Mo., not to indict cops in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Following Georgevitch’s arrest, a group of 52nd Precinct officers contacted lawyer Eric Sanders because they were concerned about the safety implications of the situation. Sanders told reporters that some of the cops had been under the impression that Georgevitch was a plainclothes member of law enforcement because he often appeared to be doing police work. “It appears that he is playing police officer and it was condoned by this lieutenant. It’s alarming and it doesn’t seem the police department is concerned about it,” Sanders said.
For its part, the NYPD told NBC New York that Maloney had been “disciplined for allowing an unauthorized police ride-along in a department vehicle.” It’s still not clear why, exactly, Maloney let Georgevitch tag along in the first place.
