Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies arrested three North Spokane County teenagers for a series of traffic stops they made early on July 9 on the Newport Highway while impersonating bona fide law enforcement officers.

Deputies were alerted to the suspects’ activity by a woman who said she was alone on the Newport Highway about 1:15 a.m. when a car pulled up behind her.  The driver activated his high beams and she saw red and blue lights coming from the passenger compartment.

Believing she was being stopped by the police, she pulled over and stopped.  However, as the male occupant approached her car, she decided he was not a real officer and rolled up her window.  About the same time, her husband who had been slumped down and sleeping, awoke and sat up.

The suspect approached her window, looked inside her car and then walked back to his vehicle and drove past her stopped car.  She was able to get the suspect’s license plate.

The woman said she had no idea what the suspect intended, but that she believed he had thought she was alone in the car and was startled by the sudden appearance of her husband.

Deputies Jeremy Howe, Chad Ruff and David Westlake tracked the suspect’s car to his home.  Interviews with Lysenko revealed that he and the two younger teens had made three traffic stops using red and blue lights. 

In one instance, one of the suspects had jumped from their car brandishing an imitation .45-caliber Airsoft pistol, apparently to intimidate a carload of teens they had stopped.

The suspects said their only intent was to warn the drivers they stopped for various traffic violations they had observed.  One suspect said that he wanted to be a police officer in the future.

Deputies seized the Airsoft pistol and the suspects’ red and blue lights as evidence in the case.  They cited Aleksey and released him upon his signature, and referred the brothers to the Spokane County Juvenile Court.