Woman cited for using mannequin as passenger in carpool lane

Published 2:33 pm Friday, June 12, 2015

LYNNWOOD — The ruse deserved an A for effort and an F for ethics.

When a trooper pulled over a car for speeding on southbound I-5 near Lynnwood on Friday morning, he noticed that a front-seat passenger wasn’t breathing.

The man didn’t look well.

His body appeared rigid.

He wore a blanket over his legs. The top of his head was covered by the hood of a Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt.

It reminded the trooper of a time earlier in his career when he stopped a woman driving with what turned out to be her dead husband in the passenger seat. He didn’t want another case with a corpse.

Trooper Mark Francis said the conversation between the trooper and the driver stopped Friday morning went something like this:

Trooper: What’s up with your passenger?

Driver: Nothing.

Trooper: Tell him to wake up.

Driver: I can’t. He’s not real.

Reports of the traffic stop led to some levity on social media. One tweet, taking note of the Seahawks garb, called it a case of the “12th mannequin.”

The driver, a 47-year-old Lakewood woman, went to great lengths to conceal her deception, including applying cosmetics to the dummy.

“It is definitely creepy putting makeup on a mannequin,” Francis said.

The woman was given a speeding ticket for going 73 mph in a 60 mph zone. She also received a citation for driving in a carpool lane by herself.

As for her mannequin, she got to keep it.

Possessing a mannequin is not a crime, Francis said.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com