Rachel Lyndsee Otto, granddaughter of NASCAR co-founder Edgar Otto, was arrested and charged with impersonating a sheriff's deputy, according to a report in the Palm Beach Post.
Otto was arrested in Boca Raton, Fla., after she pulled over a driver, ordered him out of his car and handcuffed him, police told the Post.
The news report stated a Boca Raton police community service officer saw Otto, 21, stopped with two other cars and, believing that a wreck had just occurred, pulled up, according to a police report.
The officer got out of his car and mistook Otto, who has close-cropped hair and was wearing military fatigues, for a man, and was told by Otto she was an off-duty deputy for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Otto told the officer she was making an arrest and asked him to call for "94," a police code for backup, while she waited for her unit to arrive.
The police report went on to say the officer saw a handcuffed Michael Mellin leaning against the back of a black Ford Mustang. The driver of a nearby silver Honda told the officer he had helped Otto pull over Mellin by boxing him in.
When the officer asked Otto for identification, she took the cuffs off Mellin.
A Boca Raton police officer who later showed up recognized Otto, who has been arrested at least nine times since 2004, and was told she was making a citizen's arrest for road rage.
According to the report, the officer then turned to a woman sitting in the passenger seat of Otto's gray BMW. The woman reportedly said she had been living for the past week with Otto, whom she thought was a man.
The passenger said Otto had gotten angry at Mellin after he had cut her off.
After the officer called a sheriff's office dispatcher to confirm Otto was not a deputy, he arrested her on impersonating an officer and false arrest charges and turned her over to the Palm Beach County Jail.
Otto was arrested in Boca Raton, Fla., after she pulled over a driver, ordered him out of his car and handcuffed him, police told the Post.
The news report stated a Boca Raton police community service officer saw Otto, 21, stopped with two other cars and, believing that a wreck had just occurred, pulled up, according to a police report.
The officer got out of his car and mistook Otto, who has close-cropped hair and was wearing military fatigues, for a man, and was told by Otto she was an off-duty deputy for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Otto told the officer she was making an arrest and asked him to call for "94," a police code for backup, while she waited for her unit to arrive.
The police report went on to say the officer saw a handcuffed Michael Mellin leaning against the back of a black Ford Mustang. The driver of a nearby silver Honda told the officer he had helped Otto pull over Mellin by boxing him in.
When the officer asked Otto for identification, she took the cuffs off Mellin.
A Boca Raton police officer who later showed up recognized Otto, who has been arrested at least nine times since 2004, and was told she was making a citizen's arrest for road rage.
According to the report, the officer then turned to a woman sitting in the passenger seat of Otto's gray BMW. The woman reportedly said she had been living for the past week with Otto, whom she thought was a man.
The passenger said Otto had gotten angry at Mellin after he had cut her off.
After the officer called a sheriff's office dispatcher to confirm Otto was not a deputy, he arrested her on impersonating an officer and false arrest charges and turned her over to the Palm Beach County Jail.
