Police impersonators sought in Philadelphia; one arrested

One man was arrested and two others were being sought for impersonating police officers in separate incidents in Northeast Philadelphia, police said Thursday.

About 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, a Chevrolet Silverado truck that was being followed by a Chevrolet Malibu with flashing red and blue lights pulled over in the 4300 block of McMenamy Street, Lt. John Stanford said.

Two men wearing shirts that read "police" brandished guns and ordered the three men in the truck to get out, Stanford said.

The fake cops, who had bogus badges hanging from their necks, handcuffed the three men and put them in the backseat of the extended-cab truck. A struggle ensued, and the victims were able to escape. One suffered a broken arm.

About an hour later, another police impersonator, in a Toyota Camry with a strobe light on the dashboard, drove up to a car in a parking lot in the 9000 block of Frankford Avenue, Stanford said.

A man from the Camry claimed he was a police officer and started questioning the other driver. Two members of the police bomb squad were driving by and intervened. The fake cop was taken into custody.

He was identified Thursday as Julian Collins, 23, of the 2600 block of Welsh Road.