California Highway Patrol officers and sheriff's deputies were searching the Santa Clarita Valley for a police impersonator with red hair and a beard Tuesday after the man allegedly tried to make a traffic stop on a motorist traveling on Highway 14.

"He's using a white vehicle with a push bar and was last seen traveling north on Highway 14," a Sheriff's Department official said.

The police impersonator tried to stop a vehicle on the freeway about 1 p.m. Tuesday.

The man is described as a male in his 40s with a red beard, the official said.

Another deputy had seen the car about a month ago while traveling on Highway 14 and made a note of the car's license plates.

"It had red lights and everything," the deputy said.

A push bar is used to protect the bumper of police cars when pushing another vehicle out of the road way or when forcing a fleeing vehicle to turn sideways and stop.

rbowden@the-signal.com
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