Chicago cop impersonator accused of conducting traffic stop, searched vehicle
Vincent Richardson was dubbed the 'kid cop' after impersonating a Chicago officer when he was 14
Vincent Richardson, a convicted felon with a history of impersonating a Chicago police officer, is being held on $75,000 bail for allegedly conducting traffic stops while claiming to be an officer again.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Richardson, 26, in 2009 received the moniker “kid cop” when he was 14-years-old for impersonating an officer. He fooled other officers into allowing him to walk the streets for hours before being caught.
The incident angered former Mayor Richard M. Daley who called for disciplinary action against the Chicago Police Department.
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On Thursday, Richardson was charged with three felony counts of impersonating a police officer in connection with several incidents including telling security guards at Chicago Housing Authority he was a member of the department.
Prosecutors said on Friday that Richardson would wear a full police uniform of CPD sweater while carrying a weapon. On Feb. 3, CHA security guards witnessed Richardson conduct a traffic stop, directing a driver out of a vehicle before searching it.
Judge Arthur Wesley Willis called him a “danger to the community.”
“When an individual holds himself out as a peace officer, when he has no legal right to be a peace officer — and pulls people over — he places those individuals in danger, himself in danger and anyone else around him in danger,” Willis said.
Richardson created an Instagram account “Vince_CPD” with photos of him in a Chicago Police shirt and police vehicles. In the highlights of the profile is a video of him dancing in uniform with a caption that reads, “Day in a life of a CPD Sgt.”
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He also used social media apps TikTok to document himself firing a gun at a shooting range or wearing a CPD shirt, to which he said, “I don’t think I’m gonna pass SWAT school. I’m too f—— fat. My girl gone leave me.”
In 2013, he posed as an Englewood District police officer while attempting to buy items from a specialty uniform storm. The salesman recognized him from the news and notified police who arrived to arrest him.
He reportedly told the officers during the arrest, “I know what it’s like to be one of you. I respect you because I did it for a day, chasing and helping people. My intentions are never to hurt people, just to help.”
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