'Litterbug vigilante' stops cigarette tosser

[February 06, 2009]  GARDINER, Maine (AP) -- Whoever he is, this litterbug vigilante doesn't like to see people flicking cigarette butts from their car windows. Police are looking for a man who posed as a state trooper and stopped a woman in Gardiner who allegedly tossed a spent cigarette from her car window.

Police said the man was driving a red pickup truck with a dash-mounted flashing blue light when he stopped the woman and told her he was an off-duty state trooper.

Police said the impersonator never threatened the woman. He told the woman he had stopped her because she threw a cigarette butt out the window in Augusta. He neither asked for nor showed any identification.

Police have launched an investigation, but said they have no license plate number to work with.

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/

[Associated Press]

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