Listen: if you want to hang out with a mannequin or a wooden dummy instead of a real person, no one is going to stop you from being your best Lars and the Real Girl self. Just don’t expect the police to count your inanimate friend as a passenger when you’re in the carpool lane.
The Brea Police Department shared a recent bizarre citation on Facebook, writing that the encounter all started on Wednesday around 5 p.m., when an officer on a congested freeway saw a pickup truck suddenly veer out of the carpool lane close to his bike.
The officer rode up to the driver to remind him to be careful when switching lanes, which is when he noticed that the man had an interesting passenger with him — a mannequin torso, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt.
“The driver admitted to having done this for quite some time, and related that he would now just accept the fact he needed to sit in traffic like everyone else,” police said in the post.
The driver was cited for driving alone in the carpool line, which comes with a minimum fine of $481.
“While our partners at the CHP probably see things like this more frequently, this is a first for Brea PD,” police noted.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist