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The items on this page are stories and messages that I have not been able to prove or disprove. Therefore, they might describe true events, then again, they might not. I will give you my opinion, for what it's worth, but I cannot prove it.
Keep in mind that while these stories might be true, they are still chain letters and should not be passed to everyone in your address book.
March 2002
I have actually seen two variants of this one, the one below with the girl's name as Lauren and another with the girl's name as Lisa. Otherwise they are essentially the same. I have been able to verify everything in this story except for the actual event itself. The roads and towns exist in Virginia, and they are the ones you would take to get from Winchester to Warrenton. I checked with the Virginia State Police and #77 on a cellphone does, indeed, get you to the Virginia State Police dispatcher. I have not been able to verify that a girl named Lauren or Lisa was chased by a fake police officer in the area.
As indicated by a reader, attacks by "Fake" police officers is a recurring theme in this area. See the following news articles for example.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1204/194324.html
http://wtop.com/index.php?sid=375212&nid=25
http://www.co.arlington.va.us/Departments/Police/news/article.asp?ID=225
According to Officer Chris Locke of the Metropolitan Police Department, Nashville-Davidson County, TN: "Although there are some police impersonators out there, most of our officers who are in unmarked units know that some people will not pull over, despite all the blue/red lights behind them. It is an individuals own judgment call to pull over for an unmarked unit. However, it is in itself a felony to flee from the police while operating a motor vehicle within the state of Tennessee. If you feel that the person attempting to pull you over is not a police officer, the persons actions listed in the e-mail seem to be a prudent measure of safety. I can not advise you to run, not stop or the like but, always err on the side of caution."
The information about #77 connecting you to the State Police only works in Virginia. In Tennessee it is *847 (*THP) and in Georgia it is *477 (*GSP). You will need to contact the State Police in your state or your local police to see if they have contracted with a cellular company to give them a direct access number and to find out what that number is.
My Opinion: While I can't prove it, I believe this is a made up story by someone in Virginia who knows the territory. If it had really happened, I would have expected it to make the evening news nation wide. It is too juicy of a story for reporters to pass up. The second thing is why didn't the bad guy take off when he saw the State Police cruiser in front of the girl. The message indicated he had lots of time to see the other car and a bad guy impersonating a police officer is not going to want to be in a situation where a real officer is involved.
This is an actual true story and not one of those Internet stories that are passed on and on. This actually happened to one of my dearest new friend's daughter. Her daughter, Lauren, is 19 yrs. old and a sophomore in college. This happened to her over the Christmas/New Year's holiday break. It was the Saturday before New Year's and it was about 1 pm in the afternoon. Lauren was driving from here (Winchester, Va.) to visit a friend in Warrenton. For those of you who are familiar with the area, she was taking Rt. 50 East towards Middleburg and then was going to cut over to I-66 via Rt. 17. Those of you who aren't familiar with this area, Rt. 50 East is a main road (55 mph and two lanes each side with a big median separating East/West lanes), but is somewhat secluded, known for it's big horse farms and beautiful country estates. Lauren was actually following behind a state police car shortly after she left Winchester and was going just over 65 mph since she was following behind him. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. My friend and her husband have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get to a gas station, etc. So Lauren actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called #77 on her cell phone to tell the dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there were 2 police cars, one unmarked behind her and one marked in front of her. The dispatcher checked to confirm that there were 2 police cars where she was. There wasn't and she was connected to the policeman in front of her. He told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way. Ten minutes later, 4 police cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground .. the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. Thank God Lauren listened to her parents! She was shaken up, but fine. I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should NEVER pull over for an unmarked car in a secluded area. In fact, even a marked car after dark should follow you to a populated area. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a "safe" place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on your hazard lights) or call #77 like Lauren did. I am so thankful that my friend was sitting at our book club meeting telling us this scary story, rather than us at her house consoling her had something tragic occurred! Be safe and pass this on to your friends. Awareness is everything!
January 2005
Here is a variant of the #77 story. It is the same story but has been moved to Canada where *677 does work in Ontario. However, most people should use 911 which works just about everywhere in both the US and Canada.
*677 Ladies, please read -- men, pass on to the ladies that you know. I knew about the red light on cars, but not the *677. It was about 1 PM in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. Lauren's parents have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get a gas station,etc. Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called *677 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her.The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way. Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. I never knew about the *677 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a "safe" place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on your hazard lights) or call *677 like Lauren did. Too bad the cell phone companies don't generally give you this little bit of wonderful information. *Speaking to a service representative at **Bell** Mobility confirmed that *677 was a direct link to OPP Dispatch. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about *677. Send this to every woman you know, it may save a life.
May 2003
I have been seeing this one for several months now but can find no information one way or the other. I don't believe it because if such an incident happened, there would be lots of media coverage describing the event. Most likely it is just another one of those scare the ladies kind of message.
This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana. I am not sure if this is true or not at least not in Houston...but its scary enough to think about. Joan just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last and she called the police b/c it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "whatever you do, do NOT open the door." The lady then said that the baby had crawled near a window and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The police said, "we already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." he told her that they think the serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside of their doors when they're home alone at night. Please pass this on! and do not open the door for a crying baby.
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