A man charged with impersonating a police officer in a bizarre incident involving Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk made his first court appearance Monday.
Joshua Fletcher made the appearance in the St. Albert courthouse and had his charges held over until Feb. 13.
Lukaszuk pulled over to the side of St. Albert Trail on Nov. 14 when he saw flashing lights behind him during the afternoon rush hour and assumed he was being pulled over.
At the time there was a heavy snowfall and Lukaszuk initially assumed that the officer was concerned about safety and did not get out of the vehicle because of the snowstorm.
Lukaszuk pulled his vehicle further off the road onto Rivercrest Crescent and at that point the vehicle followed him and after a few moments sped by.
The car had two young people in it who appeared to be laughing when it passed by and Lukaszak said it was at that time he realized he had been deceived. Lukaszuk followed the vehicle as it sped away and blocked it in a parking lot, while waiting for police to arrive.
Police initially charged the driver of the vehicle with a traffic offence for having flashing lights in an unauthorized vehicle.
They said at that time they were investigating the incident further to decide if criminal charges were warranted.
St. Albert RCMP Const. Janice Schoepp said that within days officers decided to lay the criminal charges.
