Logan Shaulis, 19, parked diagonally across a Pennsylvania road, set up road flares, and began stopping cars and asking for drivers' paperwork.
When the real police arrived he tried to hand off a pellet gun to a driver, saying "I can't get caught with this" according to media reports.
He faces a long list of criminal charges including drink driving.
Other charges include impersonating an officer, unlawful detention, harassment, and reckless endangerment.
Police say he was found on Saturday slurring his speech and had bloodshot eyes.
He also had a pair of handcuffs and a portable police scanner with him.
Mr Shaulis is currently being held in jail awaiting trial.
Police say that a man arrested for setting up a drink-driving roadblock was himself drunk.