The California highway patrol says it has caught a driver improperly using the carpool lane with the help of the “most realistic dummy” officers say they have ever seen.
The Toyota Tacoma was pulled over by CHP officer S. Sullinger after the eagle-eyed Officer Rodrigo Jiminez became suspicious of the Toyota Tacoma while looking for carpool lane violators. It was an illegally tinted passenger window that caught his attention, Officer Jimenez told the LA Daily News.
Photos posted to Facebook by the California Highway Patrol show that dummy was remarkably realistic. Wearing reading glasses and a Cleveland baseball cap, it even had wrinkles and a facemask.
Indeed, Officer Sullinger said they didn’t notice the dummy was fake until the driver rolled the window down and the passenger was suspicious still.
By far, one of the best dummies we have ever seen. To clarify, we are referring to this fake passenger 😂
At least he…
Posted by CHP – Baldwin Park on Wednesday, February 24, 2021
The dummy wasn’t much more talkative than the driver, according to officer Jimenez.
“The driver didn’t say much,” said Jimenez. “Other than that he’s been driving with the mannequin and he’d been getting away with it for a year and a half.”
Both he and Officer Sullinger said it was the most realistic dummy they’ve ever seen but not the first. According to the officers, drivers do use smaller dummies or mannequins or even a bundle of blankets in a baby seat to try to sneak into the carpool lane.
“I thought I’d seen them all, but I guess not,” Jimenez said. “This is something that’s straight out of the log ride at Knotts Berry Farm or Disneyland.”
The driver was cited and is facing at least $400 in fines following the stop that happened on February 19 near Glendora, California. The dummy was not confiscated, though, so we’re pleased to report that everyone involved in this story, sentient or otherwise, made it home safely.
