Borat Fooled Rudy, But Not Two Sharp Cops

OCTOBER 22--While gullible dolt Rudolph Giuliani may have fallen victim to Sacha Baron Cohen and his “Borat” troupe, the same cannot be said for a pair of much sharper Georgia cops.

Responding in late-January to a 911 “suspicious person” call placed by an anonymous individual, two officers found a beat-up yellow truck with a horse trailer attached parked on Main Street in Lilburn, a city about 25 miles outside Atlanta.

Atop the truck cab was a young woman sitting in an infant’s car seat tied down with twine. The truck’s bed held some battered leather luggage, while the trailer was equine-free.

Upon approaching the truck, Lilburn Police Department officers Alvey Lamb and Daniel Bride discovered that the driver looked and dressed suspiciously like Kazakhstan’s most notorious fictional documentarian, Borat Sagdiyev. The driver, who claimed to be from Uzbekistan, had a bushy mustache and wore a gray suit. There was no key in the truck’s ignition.

While a trailer for Cohen’s new movie includes brief snippets of his contact with the Lilburn cops, Lamb’s body-worn camera recorded the entirety of the amusing 13-minute encounter (as seen above). Sadly, video from the camera worn by Bride--who led the questioning of Cohen--was not available, according to a police official who said the camera may have malfunctioned or the recording was erased.

When Bride approached the truck, Cohen said, “I’m new here in this town.” Asked by Lamb for ID, Cohen removed a folded document from the truck’s dashboard and, referring to the woman on the roof, said, “I have this owner’s certificate that proves that she’s one of my properties.”

Actress Maria Bakalova, 24, portrays Cohen’s 15-year-old daughter in the new “Borat” film, which premieres October 23 on Amazon Prime Video.

As Lamb waited for a police dispatcher to run the license plates on the truck and trailer, Bride asked to see a driver’s license or “something that’s got your name on it in English.” When Cohen asked Bride, “What is your problem?,” the officer replied, “Well, one, you got somebody that’s strapped to the top of your car. Do you think that’s a little odd?”

Cohen subsequently gave Bride what apparently was a phony California driver’s license. Looking at the ID, the cop asked, “Peter’s your first name?” Cohen replied, “Yes.” Flashing a tight smile to Lamb, Bride walked a few steps away from the truck and looked over the license.

As Lamb examined the truck, he concluded that the woman atop the vehicle had not been up there long since the car seat was not “strapped in very good.” Then, with a splendid TV reference, he added with a laugh, “You know, at least when the Clampetts went to Beverly, they strapped Granny down pretty good.”

Back at the driver’s window, Bride asked Cohen what month and year it was. “What year is it? In my country or yours?” Cohen replied. As to the age of his daughter--who sat silently in her tiny car seat--Cohen said she was “212 moons” old.

As Bride continued to quiz Cohen, Lamb chatted with an onlooker who took a photo of the odd scene. “I’m guessing somebody’s around here with a camera filming because the dude sitting in the truck looks like Borat…and is talking like Borat and all that other good stuff,” Lamb said. He added, “Somebody’s goofing off.”

Lamb then conferred with Bride as they stood near the horse trailer. “So he says he’s from Uzbekistan,” Bride reported, prompting Lamb to giggle and say, “You know what this is, don’t you?” He then asked Bride to return the driver’s license so that they could leave.

“Dude, there is a camera around here and I’m not talking about the one on our chest,” said Lamb. “Oh, I know,” Bride replied. Lamb, who was not seeking any screen time, added, “I didn’t sign no waiver or nothing like that. I ain’t getting paid for it.”

Bride then returned to the vehicle and asked Cohen, “How long is she going to sit on the truck?” Cohen replied, “Officer, I followed the law. I did not feed her an onion.” Cohen then told Bride, “Not that I’m trying to bribe you, but I have a potato here,” as he displayed a spud in his left hand.

Bride, suppressing a smile, continued to pepper Cohen with questions as neither man broke character. Eventually, the cop told Cohen, “Alright, tell you what, before you drive, she’s gotta come off the car.” Lamb interjected that the woman could legally ride in the truck’s bed: “212 moons, that’s…over 18, isn’t it?”

After Bride shook Cohen’s hand, both cops departed in their patrol cars.

A police call record offered a brief description of the January 27 event: “driver is dressed as Borat claiming to be from Uzbekistan.” The subject, Bride reported, possessed a valid California driver’s license, was aware of the date and year, and “Doesn’t display any mental issues.” The officer added, “appears to be some sort of prank or hidden camera show.”

The report also noted that the 911 caller who alerted police to the woman atop the parked truck refused to provide a name or phone number. The movie footage of Cohen and the Lilburn cops appears to have been surreptitiously recorded from at least two nearby vehicles that happened to be perfectly positioned when Lamb and Bride rolled up on the scene in their respective cruisers. (2 pages)