New York Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski now faces three separate charges of criminal impersonation for pretending to be a police officer — and flashing a badge — so he could berate drivers who annoyed him.
The latest arrest stems from an April incident that occurred in Yonkers, the Daily Mail reports.
“What appeared to be minor road rage escalated,” said state police investigator Joseph Becerra.
The driver at the receiving end of the rabbi’s rant apparently cut Borodowski off on the interstate. The cleric waved a badge in an intimidating fashion. The driver also videotaped some of the incident.
“Words were exchanged,” Becerra said.
Rabbi Borodowski appeared in court this week for a similar episode in June. He allegedly laid on his horn and pulled up beside a woman’s car. He flashed the badge and yelled, “Police! Police! Pull over!’
The problem, notes the Mail, was that the woman was abiding by a school speed-limit zone of 20 miles per hour.
“That girl was driving too slow and I hate when people do this,” the rabbi, who grew up in Argentina, allegedly said.
Borodowski claimed that he only advised the woman that he was planning on “calling the police.”
In the third confrontation, in White Plains, Borodowski allegedly tailgated a man who was going the speed limit.
The rabbi pulled up beside the man, bellowing, “I’m a police officer!”
“He’s got this little badge that he’s waving at us,” the man said. “I told my wife, ‘That’s not a police officer.'”
Borodowski’s attorney, Andrew Rubin, says he suffers from bipolar disorder.
As for the badge, it was emblazoned with the words “Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Officer 1338.”
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority called the badge “totally fake.” It has since been seized by police.
The local prosecutor had initially brought felony changes, but has since reduced the status to a misdemeanor because the only crime was impersonating an officer.
The trustees of Temple Emanu-El have relieved Borodowski of his job as executive director of the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning. As of this week, observes the Mail, he remains a rabbi of record on the website for Congregation Sulam Yaakov in Larchmont.
Borodowski is due in court July 29. He is also due for a judge-mandated psychiatric evaluation.
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