Police: Ex-Officer Arrested After Making Traffic Stop

GARDEN CITY — Two days after reportedly resigning as a New York City police officer, a 25-year-old man was arrested by Nassau County authorities who said he used his badge to conduct a fake traffic stop of an unsuspecting motorist.

A Garden City officer became suspicious when seeing the vehicle being used in the false Friday traffic stop was a black Chevrolet Trail Blazer — not the type used by his department, police said yesterday.

The Garden City officer approached the man conducting the stop, who said he was with the "state department," police said. Under further questioning, the suspect, identified by police as Mathew Edelman-Winstead, said he had resigned two days earlier from the NYPD. He was carrying his badge and a photocopy of his NYPD identification card, Detective James Watson said.

Nassau police spokeswoman Carolyn Kasdorf said detectives had confirmed that Mr. Edelman-Winstead was a former member of the NYPD.

Detectives armed with a warrant visited the suspect's Rockville Centre home, where they found assorted prescription drugs, prescription pads, "assault-type" weapons, a stun gun, rifle, shotgun and computers with online drug transaction records, police said.