Why should Kathleen A. Frascinella, 61, have to sit in traffic when she's on her way into the city for mani-pedis with her gal pal, just because that friend appears to be an insentient wooden mannequin? (She's actually a lot of fun once you get a few drinks in her or introduce her to Andrew McCarthy.) Yesterday morning Frascinella was cruising down the Long Island Expressway in the High Occupancy Vehicle [HOV] lane with her fashionable friend—let's call her "Emmy"—in the passenger seat, when she ran into trouble with the law.
Drivers are only allowed to use the HOV lane if they have at least one other occupant, and apparently Emmy remained inanimate when Deputy Sheriff Robert Howard pulled Frascinella over. According to Newsday, Howard first became suspicious when the two drove by because Emmy was wearing a visor and sunglasses on a cloudy morning. Then he saw that Emmy—wearing a long dark wig, blazer, shirt and scarf—was wooden, mute, and did not have any legs. Frascinella was hit with a $135 fine and two points on her license.
"At first glance, this may seem humorous, but it is not a joking matter when you drive off with a ticket," Sheriff Vincent F. DeMarco said in a statement. "Unchecked abuses of this type can lead to serious traffic congestion." Seriously folks, aren't there enough dummies clogging the LIE already? (Someone has to pick up Jay Leno's slack.)
