BETHLEHEM — When questioned by Bethlehem Police after his car rear-ended another on Feb. 10, Jason S. Nurmi, 33, of East Greenbush displayed a badge to Bethlehem officers and claimed to be an investigator with a state task force, said a police spokesman this week, adding that Nurmi was impaired by drugs at the time.  

Officers believe that Nurmi was hoping for leniency when he told police he was an investigator, Commander Adam Hornick of the Bethlehem Police said.  

“It’s rare enough to have a police impersonation case, but even rarer when they do it to a real police officer,” Hornick added. He said that events unfolded this way:

Police received a 9-1-1 call about a personal-injury crash at the intersection of Delaware and Cherry avenues on Saturday morning at about 6:40. A Bethlehem Police officer who happened to be passing by stopped and questioned Nurmi, who showed him a badge and claimed to be an inviestigator with a state task force.

The investigating officer soon determined that Nurmi was under the influence of drugs and arrested him; the officer found that Nurmi had no authority to have red-and-blue flashing lights affixed to his windshield, as he did.

A drug-recognition expert with the Bethlehem Police found that Nurmi showed signs of impairment with a narcotic, Hornick said.

Nurmi was also found to have a loaded firearm in the car, which Hornick said was legal; Nurmi has a valid concealed-carry pistol in five states, including New York.

Nurmi is not associated with any government agency or entity that would authorize him to carry a badge or display flashing red-and-blue lights on his vehicle.

The charges against Nurmi were driving while ability impaired by drugs; second-degree criminal impersonation, a misdemeanor; and following too closely and operating a motor vehicle with unauthorized colored lights.

Nurmi’s vague choice of words meant the difference between a misdemeanor and felony charge for the impersonation, Hornick said.

Nurmi was charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail, but he could have been charged with felony impersonation of a police officer if he had, for instance, lied and said that he worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration task force, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, or another specific, existing organization.

Nurmi was arraigned in the Town of Bethlehem Court by Judge Andrew Kirby and released on his reognizance and was due to appear again on Mar. 6 at 4 p.m.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 36-year-old man from Wilton, was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital with minor injuries, said Hornick; the man complained of neck pain and was treated and released, he said.

Bethlehem Police who are in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles will occasionally stop drivers, Hornick said, but normally they will do so only for fairly egregious violations. They won’t stop someone, he said, for talking on a cell phone, but they might for almost causing a crash while using a cell phone.

They will always try to ensure, he said, that a stop is made in a very public place, with many witnesses.

There is no evidence at this point that Nurmi has ever used his red-and-blue lights, his badge, and his gun to stop someone, but the Bethelehem Police is currently asking area residents to contact them if they have ever been stopped by Nurmi.