Westchester Rabbi Charged In Alleged Road Rage Incidents Due In Court
LARCHMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Westchester County rabbi is being arraigned Friday on charges that he impersonated a police officer and pulled over unsuspecting drivers.
Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski, 49, has been charged with criminal impersonation for an incident on the Sprain Brook Parkway in May.
According to police, the rabbi allegedly pulled up behind a woman's car on an exit ramp in Greenburgh. That's when he got out of his car, waved a badge, banged on her window and threatened to arrest her for driving too slowly and recklessly, police said. He then drove off.
Borodowski has also been accused in four similar incidents in Mamaroneck, White Plains and Yonkers. He has pleaded not guilty.
In the Mamaroneck case, Borodowski is accused of pulling his car alongside a woman's car, flashing a badge and shouting: "Police! Police! Pull over!"
"The driver started honking and screaming at her and pulled up alongside her at a red light and directed her to pull over to the side and the driver held up a badge," said Richard Clifford, who represents the woman. "That led to her complaint to the police department."
Police said Borodowski told cops he was angry about her slow driving. He denied posing as a police officer.
His lawyer says the incidents are the result of bipolar disorder.
Borodowski was terminated from his position as executive director of the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El on East 65th Street earlier this month, but he is still listed as the rabbi at Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont.
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