A woman who accused an Ulster County Sheriff’s deputy of excessive force in December of last year was arrested today for criminal impersonation. Saugerties police said Shana Shaw, 26, of Saugerties, gave an officer a false name and date of birth during a traffic stop in October last year. Police said she was arrested following a complaint by the person whose identity she provided.
According to police, on October 2, 2020, a Saugerties police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that allegedly passed three vehicles over a double yellow, one of the vehicles being a marked police car, while traveling on State Route 32 in Glasco. Police said the operator possessed no formal form of identification, and instead provided the police officer with a name and date of birth. The officer issued a traffic summons to the operator based on the information she provided.
On April 20, police received a complaint from a motorist who received a ticket by mail for a traffic stop on October 2, 2020. The complainant insisted she was never stopped by the police on that date. A review of the officer’s body camp recording of the traffic stop indicated that the complainant was not the driver in the October 2 traffic stop.
Police said the complainant recognized the female operator the officer had issued the ticket to, identifying her as Shana Shaw, a person the complainant said she personally knows.
Police determined that Shaw’s license to operate a motor vehicle had been suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles since 2017.
Subsequently, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Shana Shaw, which was executed by officers on May 5. Shaw was arraigned in the Town of Saugerties Justice Court and released on her own recognizance, to reappear at a later date to answer her charges.
Shaw made news last December when she accused a sheriff’s deputy of excessive force in connection with an arrest following a traffic stop in the town of Ulster. Shaw said as a result of the arrest, she sustained a concussion, nerve damage in her wrist from the handcuffs, and bruises on her body.
Shaw said at the time she planned to sue the Sheriff’s Office. According to department spokesperson Lt. Joseph Sciutto, the Sheriff’s Office hasn’t received any official correspondence or notice of intent from Ms. Shaw or from an attorney representing her.