Snopes.com
Claim: College student who by dialing #77 on her cell phone evades a rapist pretending to be a police officer.
Status: Multiple — see below.
* Co-ed named Lauren evades rapist who had been masquerading as a police officer:
Undetermined.
* Rapists and murderers have been known to pass themselves off as police officers:
True.
* Dialing #77 on your cell phone will connect you with the highway patrol:
True in some states, False in others.
Whether this particular tale is true or not, women driving alone have been sexually assaulted by rapists pretending to be patrolmen (and in certain rare cases by actual police officers), so the advice it gives about not pulling over in deserted areas when signaled to do so by unmarked police vehicles is well worth heeding. Throw on your flashers, slow down, and keep driving until you get to a well-lit area where there are others about. Though you might subsequently be charged for failing to heed a police officer's commands, you will avoid the potential for harm. Call 911 and tell them what's happening, asking them to relay to the officer in pursuit your intent to continue traveling until a populated area has been reached. (Although in some U.S. states, #77 on a cell phone will immediately connect you to that state's highway patrol, that code is not universal. Some states use #77, but others use *55, *47, or *HP, and some don't have any special code at all. Rather than frantically try to figure out which one will work in the area you're in, get around the problem by going straight to
911.)
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