This sounds like a dirty cop, and you're right, lying was a truly repugnant thing to do.

One thing not mentioned in your article is that Mr Barbosa appears to have pulled out after the police pulled along side him with their lights flashing.

Now there are a lot of reasons for potentially doing that, including self-preservation. so that shouldn't be discounted. Either way, circumstances were a bit murkier than the first impression I got by reading your article alone. You also could have mentioned that Mr Barbosa ultimately was arrested for stealing quarters from a laundry room, at which point the phantom charges were added.

Regardless of Mr Barbosa, the officer involved should have received a lot more than a slap on the wrist. The challenge is police officers are human too, and while thankfully I'm not a police officer, I'd have been pretty angry too if I'd pulled up next to someone and they peeled off when they saw my lights flashing. I want to stress that in no way is defending the officer, who was 1000 percent in the wrong.

I think the human aspect of law enforcement is the weakest link, and as I've stated elsewhere, when police officers are robots are when we'll collectively achieve some level of consistent ethical behaviour.