Three young men made the ill-advised decision to impersonate police officers in order to cut a line of around 500 people in order to purchase the hot new Grand Theft Auto V video game during its midnight release. 19-year-old Kirolos Abdel Sayed, 19-year-old Fank Santanastoso, and 20-year-old Matthew Kirshen all "cruised to the Staten Island Mall in what looked like an unmarked police car - complete with lights and sirens - just after midnight early Tuesday morning, cops said," according to reports from The New York Daily News.
Abdel Sayed happened to be an auxiliary volunteer for the 122nd precinct, and he and Kirshen both flashed fake police badges at security looking over the line. Santanastoso flashed a police shield tattoo which convinced the mall security that they were legitimate cops and "were on patrol," according to sources. They each managed to skip the entire line, cutting hundreds of people, and purchased the game at the mall's GameStop store. It was only after exiting the mall that they were apprehended for reckless driving.
The driver of the vehicle allegedly made an illegal U-turn and ran some red lights, which is what caught the attention of a real unmarked police vehicle and led to them being stopped. After being arrested, the men were charged with impersonating an officer, but were released on their own recognizance. They each face up to a year in prison for the crime.
Source: hiphopwired.com
