A man posing as a police officer robbed a woman of $200 in San Leandro Tuesday after handcuffing her and accusing her of being under the influence of drugs, a police lieutenant said today.
At about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the woman was walking in the 14800 block of East 14th Street when a vehicle described as a black Chevrolet Tahoe with tinted windows drove up to her, San Leandro police Lt. Jeff Tudor said.
The man was wearing a "tactical police-uniform-type outfit" as he got out of the SUV, which also had red and blue flashing lights and a couple of spotlights on the grill, Tudor said.
He told the woman to freeze and eventually handcuffed her and performed a fake field sobriety test that he said was to see if she was under the influence of drugs.
He also asked for the woman's ID, and when she said she didn't have any, he took her wallet and looked through it, Tudor said.
The man eventually returned the wallet, let the woman go, and told her to leave the area. As he drove away, the victim found $200 was missing from her wallet, Tudor said.
The woman was not injured during the robbery.
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The man is described as a black man in his mid 30s who was clean-shaven and bald, Tudor said.
"We want to advise the public if you feel suspicious with anyone you come in contact with, look at their patches, look at the ID's on their badge, and the nametags to identify the city or county the officer works for," Tudor said.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call San Leandro police at (510) 577-3230.
