A Natrona County official has pleaded not guilty to allegations he used the lights and siren on his county vehicle to impersonate a law enforcement officer and pull over a family headed to Rock Springs that he said was speeding.
Natrona County Road and Bridge Superintendent Mike Haigler, 70, appeared in Casper Circuit Court on Friday on a charge of “usurpation,” or impersonating a law enforcement officer, and pleaded not guilty, according to court records. He was released on a $500 personal recognizance bond.
An arrest affidavit states that the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint on the morning of Jan. 19 from a driver who said he and his family were pulled over by a person in a Jeep who was not law enforcement.
The driver was then contacted by a real deputy and reported that he, his wife and two children were headed to Rock Springs on Highway 220 and had just passed Alcova. He said he was going 80 mph and had passed a green Jeep and two semitrailers going up the hill outside the enclave, according to court records.
“(The driver) looked in his rearview mirror and noticed the green Jeep coming up on his fast by the estates above Alcova,” the affidavit says. He then “noticed the Jeep had turned on what appeared to be overhead emergency red and white lights and a siren.”
Man At The Window
The affidavit says the driver pulled over, and a man, later identified as Haigler, came up to the passenger window of the vehicle and asked: “What the (expletive) are you thinking?”
The driver then asked Haigler if he was law enforcement and Haigler responded that he was with the fire department, the affidavit states. The driver asked for Haigler’s name and badge number, then Haigler walked back to his Jeep and told the driver that he was going to “call law enforcement,” the affidavit states.
In the meantime, the driver’s “wife and kids were scared during the contact with not knowing if the male was truly law enforcement or someone was out there to harm someone,” the affidavit states.
The driver provided a description of the the person who walked up to the vehicle as well as a plate number of a county vehicle to the deputy. The deputy then contacted Haigler, who admitted to stopping the vehicle, court records show.
According to the affidavit, Haigler told the deputy the driver had been going 100 mph and he followed him, the affidavit says. When the driver slowed down, Haigler turned on his overhead lights and stopped him. Haigler told the deputy he knew the vehicle he stopped was going that fast “because he couldn’t catch him until he slowed down.”
Never Tried To Contact Law Enforcement
The affidavit states that Haigler had radios with the capability to contact law enforcement inside his vehicle and never attempted to contact law enforcement at the time of the complaint or afterward.
“While speaking to Haigler about his radios, Haigler made a comment that when he approached the passenger side of the vehicle, the woman and kids in the vehicle appeared to be scared,” the affidavit states.
Haigler had red, white and blue emergency lights on top of his vehicle, records show.
The usurpation charge is a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine of $750 or both.
Wyoming statute defines usurpation as when a person “falsely represents himself to be a public servant with the intent to induce anyone to submit to the pretended official authority or to act in reliance upon the pretense to his detriment.”
A message left at Haigler’s county office was not returned by the time this story was published.
A call to Natrona County Commission Chairman Peter Nicolaysen also was not returned.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
