Police say a Long Island driver used a dummy tactic to try to take advantage of a carpool lane.
Suffolk County police say something about the front-seat passenger in a Saturn sedan raised Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Spina’s suspicions Monday on the Long Island Expressway in Dix Hills.
Spina pulled the car over and found that the “passenger” was actually a mannequin, dolled up in a sweatshirt, jeans, baseball cap and sunglasses.
The 34-year-old driver was ticketed for carpool lane violations.
Similar cases have happened from time to time on the L.I.E. and elsewhere, with police saying drivers deployed phony passengers ranging from mannequins to teddy bears.
In September 2016, a Seattle-area driver was even ticketed for carpooling with a cardboard cutout of then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
8 Responses
Clever
A lie on the LIE.
Who’s the dummy now?
I recall getting pulled over in a carpool lane a few years ago (but really did have two real people in the backseat). I started videoing the incident so there wouldn’t be a “he said, she said” situation. Needless to say, after seeing my two backseat passengers the officer allowed me on my way without any incident. To make a dummy should be considered fraud and should carry a heavier violation.
The guy only got the same ticket anyone else driving in the HOV lane without another passenger would get. A plain HOV violation summons. Nothing more and nothing less. He got no additional penalty and no charges for having the fake/dummy, since there’s nothing illegal about having a fake/dummy in your car, even if intended to fool the HOV enforcers.
If anyone is going to be in the HOV lane without a proper carpool anyway, they may as well as try this guy’s approach and use a dummy. It can only help and can’t hurt. Worse, they’ll get the same ticket anyways; more likely they’ll successfully avoid a ticket. This guy was probably doing this for years until one time it didn’t work.
I just don’t understand why he tied a sweatshirt around the dummies mouth. It looks more like he’s in the process of being suffocated to death. Maybe that’s why he got pulled over…
Good idea for a new product: realistic dummies for carpool lane fraud.