UNION SQUARE — A Brooklyn man pretending to be a police officer scolded a parkgoer for taking photos of people without a permit and then robbed him, according to police.
The 40-year-old suspect approached the victim, 51, just after 1 p.m. near Union Square East and East 14th Street on Aug. 5 and identified himself as a police officer, according to a criminal complaint.
He told the victim that he was breaking the law by photographing people without giving them money and for doing so without a permit. Then he snatched the man's camera and backpack, saying he had to search it, police said.
The victim managed to retrieve his camera but the thief made off with a book he had taken from the victim's backpack, according to authorities.
Police caught up with the suspect nearby and arrested him after he put up a fight, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors charged him with robbery, impersonating an officer, petit larceny and resisting arrest, according to a spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
A judge initially ordered him held on $10,000 bail, but on Wednesday he was remanded and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to online court records.
His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, two men claimed to be police officers and stopped, frisked and robbed their victim of $625 and his cellphone in Harlem, police said.
Those two men had not been caught as of Wednesday.
