EUFAULA, Ala.- When running late for work, people will come up with any excuse to get them off of the hook, but 18-year-old Samantha Robertson’s excuse led to her being arrested.

Thursday, Robertson reported to Eufaula Police that she was pulled over by a police impersonator on Highway 95. She said it was a white Crown Victoria, and the officer who allegedly pulled her over had a gun, taser, pepper spray and a nametag.

Robertson told police the officer searched her car and damaged her property.

“When we hear that, we want to try to get that person off the street as fast as we can,” Sgt. Donald Brown said. “So, we’re going to take every person we have available to be out on the streets looking for that person. We have other cases we are investigating, a lot of felony crimes we have to investigate. We take people from our criminal investigations division, who investigate these felony crimes, looking for that person.”

Criminal investigations got involved and began to investigate the case. Police said there were inconsistencies with Robertson’s story and other people she told the story to. Those inconsistencies prompted them to calling Robertson back into the police station. Eventually, Robertson confessed to fabricating the story as an excuse for being late to work.

“We want to give everybody the benefit of the doubt when they call us here at the police department for anything,” Sgt. Brown said. “We want to check out every call accordingly. If there are inconsistencies, we have to check it because we will have an investigative division who will investigate, and we check those things out. If it is happening, we need to take steps to stop it from happening.”

Police are urging people to think before pushing send on a social media post about any unverified information that may cause a panic. Eufaula Police said if there was an event that was a public safety issue, police would notify the public.

Robertson was charged with False Reporting to Law Enforcement Authorities, which is a Class A Misdemeanor. She did make bond Thursday night, and she is expected to make her first court appearance on Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. in Eufaula Municipal Court.