PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — A 30-year-old man was arrested this week for impersonating a police officer after he was stopped for drunk driving with two minors in the car, police said.
Vullnet Veliu, 30, was pulled over about 10 p.m. on June 24 near Parkside and Bedford avenues in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens when he ran a red light at the intersection, police said.
When officers approached the man, he gave them a fake police badge and said he was a State Police officer. The man was slurring his words, smelled of alcohol and had two children in his car, police said.
A Breathalyzer test found his blood alcohol concentration level well above the legal limit, according to police.
Prosecutors charged the man on June 25 with driving while intoxicated, reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and other traffic violations, court records show. He was released on $500 cash bail.
Veliu's next court appearance is set for Aug. 25, according to court records. His attorney could not be reached for immediate comment.
Other notable crimes in this week’s blotter from the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and East Flatbush include:
The map above depicts only those blotter items compiled by DNAinfo New York within the date range indicated, not all crimes that took place in a given precinct. To see all previous crime blotters from this precinct, click here.
► A burglar wanted for a series of home break-ins in the neighborhood struck again this week, breaking into a house on Carroll Street between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues, police said. On June 28 between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. the suspect got in through the rear basement door, stole property from inside and fled out a second-floor window. The NYPD has already released an image of the suspect in the pattern, depicting a young man wearing a dark hoodie, pants and baseball cap.
► A 55-year-old man was arrested for public lewdness after he exposed himself and masturbated in front of a 29-year-old woman and several children on a public sidewalk at Midwood Street and Brooklyn Avenue around 4 p.m. on June 22. Police arrested the man a short time later.
► A 23-year-old man was injured in an assault and attempted robbery. The victim was sitting in his car outside of 1730 Carroll St. about 4:40 p.m. on June 22, when an unknown suspect came up to his window, punched him in the left side of the face and snatched a Gucci handbag from inside the vehicle. The suspect then fled, dropping the purse on the street before getting into his own car and driving away.
► A 69-year-old man told police he was assaulted outside his Winthrop Street home between Flatbush and Bedford avenues by two strangers. Police said the suspects walked up to the victim on the sidewalk about 3 p.m. on June 23 and kicked him repeatedly in the stomach before running away. The two men were in their twenties, the victim told police, and did not speak to the 69-year-old or take any property from him.
► A 40-year-old man was arrested at a Popeye’s restaurant for breaking a glass door at the eatery. Employees there told police the man repeatedly slammed the door around 11:55 p.m. on June 24 causing roughly $250 in damage.
► Police are looking for the driver of a car that hit a 4-year-old boy while fleeing a minor accident on June 24. The driver of the gray sedan with Pennsylvania plates first hit the car of 65-year-old man at Lincoln Road just west of Flatbush Avenue, and fled. He then sped eastbound, against the flow of traffic, and struck the toddler walking with his father in the crosswalk on Lincoln Road. The boy suffered an abrasion on his arm, police said. The 65-year-old driver of the hit car suffered pain to his neck and back after the crash.
