- An off-duty Forest Park lieutenant allegedly pulled an 18-year-old from her vehicle.
- Breanna Pantoja claims the officer never identified himself or showed a badge.
- The accusation was an alleged hit-and-run that the teen says simply never occurred.
A woman in North Riverside, Illinois, is considering legal action after she was pulled from her car and arrested by an off-duty police officer while waiting at an intersection. She says she initially thought she was being carjacked or kidnapped.
The incident happened on Monday afternoon when 18-year-old Breanna Pantoja was driving. According to Pantoja, a Forest Park Police lieutenant cut her off at a red light and alleged that she had been involved in a hit-and-run. According to her account, that was not the case.
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“I’m at a red light; this Jeep cuts me off. And he gets out of the car with a gun, screaming, ‘get out of the car. Get out of the car and turn it off,” she told ABC 7 Chicago. “At first I thought I was getting robbed or something cause I didn’t know it was a police officer or anything. All I saw was a gun pointed at me.”
Pantoja added that there was no hit-and-run and that she had simply lost control of her car on a wet road without hitting anything or causing damage.
A nearby motorist filmed part of the interaction. The officer can be seen pulling her from the car. Pantoja claims he did not identify himself as a police officer or show his badge.
Immediately after the incident, Forest Park officials said they had launched an investigation into the arrest but did not release the officer’s name. Pantoja says the off-duty officer called officers from North Riverside to respond, who released her without charges.
Screenshot ABC7
