The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
MONREOVILLE, Pa. — A deputy fire chief in Monreoville has been charged with impersonating a police officer and official oppression after Monroeville police said he pulled a motorcyclist over this month, took the driver’s information, and told the driver to expect “a citation in the mail.”
George Fred Gerstacker, 46, of Monroeville was charged via summons on Tuesday, court documents show. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Gerstacker could not be reached for comment.
At 5:15 p.m. on Sept. 13, Monroeville police were sent to William Penn Highway at Golden Mile Highway in Monreoville for a report of a motorcycle passing cars on the double yellow line at a high rate of speed, according to a criminal complaint.
Police were unable to find anything and went back to the station, where police were told that the motorcycle driver called dispatch to report that he had been pulled over by someone, but wasn’t sure that person was a cop.
The driver gave dispatchers the license plate of the vehicle that pulled him over, which police recognized as belonging to Gerstacker. Gerstacker is a former Monroeville police/fire dispatcher and an assistant chief of Monroeville Station 5, police said in their complaint.
Monroeville Station 5 fire Chief Ron Harvey said Gerstacker is temporarily suspended pending an internal investigation.
Police listened to the 911 call made by Gerstacker, in which Gerstacker stated that he had pulled over a motorcycle and obtained the driver’s information. Gerstacker asked who was on duty and that he wanted to have the motorcycle driver cited.
The motorcycle driver, in a written statement received by Monroeville Police on Sept. 16, told police that there were no audible sirens on Gerstacker’s vehicle, but there were flashing red and blue lights at the top of the windshield. The driver said Gerstacker claimed multiple traffic violations, was “very aggressive and pushy,” and insinuated that the driver did not have proper documentation. He told the driver he would be receiving a citation in the mail.
Harvey said volunteer firefighters are allowed to use blue lights and red lights to assist them in getting to calls, and that Gerstacker abused that privilege.
“It was never meant for anybody to make traffic stops, it was meant to assist us to get to the fire station or to the scene of accidents or to the scene of fire calls: emergencies, and that’s all,” said Harvey. “Unfortunately, the decision he made that day to do that was a poor one. The bottom line is that it reflected poorly not only on our station but on all volunteer firemen that have that privilege.”
Police said Gerstacker was the initial caller on the incident and notified dispatch about the driver and its location. He did not tell anyone that he had stopped the vehicle or “call out his location to dispatch,” the complaint said.
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