Police: LI Woman Used Pile Of Clothes As 'Passenger' In HOV Lane

MILLER PLACE (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island woman received multiple summonses for driving in the HOV lane with a phony passenger Thursday morning.

According to police, Candice Breen-Warren, 61, of Miller Place, put a baseball cap on a pile of clothes in the passenger seat to create the appearance of another person. She also added a briefcase to keep up the look, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported. 

"It is not often that we see an attempt to fool officers in this sense by having a fake passenger in the front seat," Suffolk County Police Chief Tim Sini told WCBS 880. "The photos - it makes it clear that's exactly what this driver is attempting to do."

Warren was pulled over in her 2011 Subaru Outback by Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Spina at Exit 51 in the westbound lane of the Long Island Expressway.

Spina said Breen-Warren told him she was headed to work in the Bronx and didn't want to wait in traffic.

"I took a quick glance to my left and I saw a Subaru and I kinda took a double-take because the person in the front seat, the passenger seat didn't look right to me. Kinda looked flat," Officer Andrew Spina said.

Warren now faces summonses for violating HOV occupation rules and for driving an unregistered, unlicensed vehicle.