This is one of those stories you hear about that you should pay attention to. Just because it doesn’t happen that often, or it hasn’t happened to anyone you know, doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you.

At 5 a.m., 48-year-old Allen Davis saw a dark blue sedan that looked like what he thought was a Chrysler 300 in his rear view mirror. No siren was heard, but red and blue lights were flashing from the unmarked vehicle, so Davis thought he was being pulled over by police.

Much to his chagrin, two tall slender males approached his vehicle, told him they were cops, pulled him out of his car and proceeded to beat him. Before driving off, they robbed him of his money and some belongings.

Davis ended up in Jackson Memorial Hospital and appears to be okay.

Take this to heart, folks.. It’s not the first time we’ve heard about an incident where someone was attacked by people posing as police. There have been several occurrences throughout the country over the years where women thought they were being pulled over by a police car when, in fact, they were being hunted down by a criminal.

They were raped and their lifeless bodies were later found dumped in a river or beside the Interstate.

Not to strike fear into Miami residents, but just because the victim was a male doesn’t mean that the robbers would not have perpetrated further crime on an unsuspecting woman.

Keep alert and don’t pull over for anyone unless you are sure they are police. Even then, take precautionary measures. Are they uniformed? Do the person, uniform and vehicle appear to be legitimate?

Regardless, police encourage citizens to call in to verify that they are being pulled over by legitimate police officers or sheriff’s deputies if you are in doubt.

If you are being pulled over by what appears to be real police officers, use common sense, listen to your gut feeling and apply the following measures:

• If it is at night, pull over in a well-lit area.

• Regardless of the hour and if at all possible, pull over in a populated area. If the stop is not legitimate, witnesses can often scare off potential perpetrators.

• If the car is unmarked, do not pull over until you can confirm with a phone call to police that the stop is legitimate.

• If the car is marked, but the officer is not uniformed, ask for a badge, get the badge number and verify with a phone call to police that the stop is legitimate.

• If the car is marked and the officer is uniformed, make sure the police department name on the shirt matches the name on the officer’s vehicle. Verify with a phone call to police that the stop is legitimate.

• If you feel uneasy about the stop regardless of when or where you are stopped, don’t pull over until you can verify with a phone call to police that the stop is legitimate.

There have even been some instances where the police officer was legitimate, but his intent was not. I know, I’ve been watching too many Forensics shows.

You can’t be too careful, though, folks. If you ask Davis, I’m sure he would tell you the same thing.