DONEGAL TOWNSHIP, PA (WPXI/CNN) - One Pennsylvania man got so frustrated with people speeding down a road near his home that he decided to do something about it. Now the 57-year-old man is in hot water for his effective, but illegal, method.
Did he know what he was doing was against the law? Yes, says Rick McMillen, who doesn't have a badge. But that didn't stop him from putting a led light on his dash, and pulling off on the side of the road in Donegal Township to get drivers' attention.
"I mean they fly like 100 miles an hour. They could get hit, somebody could get killed," McMillen said. He said he's been complaining about speeders for years.
"He had set up his own radar area and he was trying to slow people down. He wanted them to think it was a speed trap,” said Steve Limani of the Pennsylvania State Police.
Police say they pulled up to McMillen's car on County Line Road. They say he had flashing lights in the dash of his Chevy Cavalier. McMillen says that it was all in an effort to slow down drivers on this road, and he says it worked. "It worked til they took my light,” he said.
"Our trooper at that point in time activated his lights and in turn, Mr. McMillen shut the lights off and tried to stow them underneath the dashboard of the vehicle,” Limani said. State troopers confronted McMillen.
He told officers he wanted people to slow down because drivers keep hitting deer and the carcasses make his house smell bad.
It that the only time he did it, that one day? "No, been doing it. They finally caught me,” McMillen said.
"It makes you wonder what people come up with, their ideas, when they're going to try and take matters in their own hands. I would just let the law enforcement take care of it. If you have a problem like that, let us deal with your speeders in your neighborhood,” Limani said.
McMillen faces charges of impersonating a public servant and illegal use of emergency vehicle lights.
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