LIVE OAK, Texas -- Charlie Garza, who represented Fiesta royalty in 2009 as El Rey Feo, has been charged with impersonating a police officer, Live Oak Police Chief Ron Echols said Tuesday.

The charges stem from a traffic altercation with a woman Friday.

The woman, who didn't want to be identified, said that she flashed her lights at a Cadillac Escalade that was traveling slow in the fast lane on Loop 1604. When the driver refused to move to the slower lane, the woman said that she passed the SUV in the other lane and flipped the driver the finger.

"I probably shouldn't have done it, but it's not against the law," the woman said in an interview with KSAT 12 News.

The woman said the driver then pulled up alongside her, showed a badge and motioned for her to pull over.

"I shook my head like, 'I don't think so,'" the woman said. She said that they kept on driving until "he cut me off so hard I had to step on my brake pedal not to hit him."

Concerned for her safety and the safety of other drivers, the woman called 911.

Police then found the driver of the Escalade, who Echols identified as Garza.

"They were able to locate the suspect's vehicle and conducted a traffic stop," Echols said.

Echols said that Garza showed the woman an honorary Bexar County deputy constable certificate, which "holds no authority and it is explained to the people they have no police powers," said W.R. Tomlin, an assistant chief with the constable's office.

Tomlin said that he's disappointed about the incident but stands by the honorary certificate program.

"We continuously review ... incidents of this nature," Tomlin said. "People are looked at very thoroughly, and we are very confident in the people we give them to."

Echols said that police officers make traffic stops in marked cars, with flashing lights and in uniform.

"If you are in fear that you are being pulled over by somebody other than a law enforcement officer, then you need to contact 911 on your cell phone," Echols said.

When reached at his workplace, Garza, who was also charged with reckless driving, had no comment.