NY - A young woman knew something wasn’t kosher when
a man in a Toyota Camry flashed a police badge and ordered her to pull over.
The “cop” turned out be Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski, 49, of
Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont. He is now charged with first-degree
criminal impersonation, a felony.
The rabbi, who lives in White Plains, approached the
24-year-old motorist on Mamaroneck Avenue about 9:30 a..m. Wednesday,
apparently upset that she was driving too slowly, police said. The spiritual
leader pulled beside her and yelled “Police! Police! Pull over!” while waving a
fake badge through his window, the felony complaint states.
“Pull over here!” Borodowski allegedly shouted, pointing to
the side of the road near 900 Mamaroneck Ave.
Instead of stopping, the woman called police. That’s when
the rabbi yielded to the local authorities.
“Defendant is not a police officer and did not have the
approval or authority of any police department to portray himself as such,” the
complaint states.
The alleged victim’s lawyer told The Journal News that
Borodowski was honking his horn at her in a school zone, where she was
traveling at the posted 20- mph limit. He then ordered her to stop.
“This young woman did exactly what she should have done,”
lawyer Richard Clifford said. “She didn’t get out of the car and called
police.”
The rabbi was arraigned Wednesday and released pending an
appearance in Village Court on July 11.
Borodowski is also the executive director of the Skirball
Center for Adult Jewish Learning at New York University.
He previously served
as rabbi of the Jewish Community Center of Harrison and his wife, Shira
Leibowitz, is the lower school principal at the Solomon Schechter School of
Westchester.
Neither he nor his lawyer responded to calls for comment
Thursday.
By - SHAWN COHEN AND LEE HIGGINS -
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