The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department caught an 18-year-old Canoe Circle Drive man who people say has been impersonating a fireman in Orion and Oxford Townships.
According to an OCSD report, a deputy saw the man driving a 1997 Ford Explorer, that matched the descriptions in the complaints, on Baldwin Road with red emergency lights on top of the vehicle activated. The man turned on Gregory and passed the fire station there, then turned off the lights.
The deputy said the man, who both the Orion and Oxford fire department chiefs said was not a volunteer paid firefighter, eventually came to a stop behind some trees on Spring Hollow Court, where he turned the vehicles headlights off.
The man was identified by his Michigan driver’s license, and the vehicle had a real overhead emergency light and a siren that wasn’t installed yet. He said he was a criminal justice student and was waiting for orientation to become a real fireman.
He said he didn’t know he was committing a crime and that driving with the emergency lights activated made him feel important and like he had power. His vehicle was impounded and he was released into the custody of his father.