Published: Friday, March 13, 2009
Camano Island man caught with dummy in carpool lane
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Courtesy of the Washington State Patrol
This dummy was in the car with a Camano Island man a state trooper spotted driving in the carpool lane on I-405 in King County.
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Courtesy of Washington State Patrol
A state trooper removed this dummy from the car of a Camano Island man after pulling the man over when he thought he saw a passenger without a seat belt on.
A 33-year-old Camano Island man fed up with traffic got busted Wednesday for driving in the carpool lane with an unusual passenger.
A Washington State Patrol trooper patrolling I-405 near Bellevue during the afternoon rush spotted what he thought was a passenger not wearing his seat belt.
As the trooper came up on the Honda Civic in the carpool lane, the driver changed lanes.
It's then the trooper noticed something else odd: the passenger didn't seem to be moving.
"Usually, people try to at least sneak the seat belt on," said Christina Martin, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Patrol.
The trooper pulled over the Honda and approached the driver's window.
"That's when he realized it was a plastic dummy," Martin said. "The trooper had a pretty good sense of humor. I think he asked (the driver) what he was thinking."
And not just any plastic dummy.
The dummy's face was a Halloween mask of the wizard Gandalf, from J.R.R. Tolkien's classic trilogy "Lord of the Rings." The mask featured a long, white beard, giving the dummy-man a mummified appearance. Gandalf was sporting a rain jacket and a ball cap.
The frustrated driver built the dummy using plastic piping and a Styrofoam ball for a head.
The man told the trooper he got fed up sitting in rush-hour traffic and he had used Gandalf for several days as a means to slip into the lane reserved for buses and commuters with one or more passengers.
The man said his wife warned him the dummy was a bad idea.
"I think it happens more frequently than even we know it does," Martin said of the dummy ruse. She remembers several other incidents in the past few years.
The trooper confiscated Gandalf.
Not even a wizard could save the man from what came next: a $124 ticket.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
A Washington State Patrol trooper patrolling I-405 near Bellevue during the afternoon rush spotted what he thought was a passenger not wearing his seat belt.
As the trooper came up on the Honda Civic in the carpool lane, the driver changed lanes.
It's then the trooper noticed something else odd: the passenger didn't seem to be moving.
"Usually, people try to at least sneak the seat belt on," said Christina Martin, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Patrol.
The trooper pulled over the Honda and approached the driver's window.
"That's when he realized it was a plastic dummy," Martin said. "The trooper had a pretty good sense of humor. I think he asked (the driver) what he was thinking."
And not just any plastic dummy.
The dummy's face was a Halloween mask of the wizard Gandalf, from J.R.R. Tolkien's classic trilogy "Lord of the Rings." The mask featured a long, white beard, giving the dummy-man a mummified appearance. Gandalf was sporting a rain jacket and a ball cap.
The frustrated driver built the dummy using plastic piping and a Styrofoam ball for a head.
The man told the trooper he got fed up sitting in rush-hour traffic and he had used Gandalf for several days as a means to slip into the lane reserved for buses and commuters with one or more passengers.
The man said his wife warned him the dummy was a bad idea.
"I think it happens more frequently than even we know it does," Martin said of the dummy ruse. She remembers several other incidents in the past few years.
The trooper confiscated Gandalf.
Not even a wizard could save the man from what came next: a $124 ticket.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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