Mannequin's Best Friend: East Windsor Police Reveal Why This Man Drove With Doll Seat-Belted Into Passenger Seat

Oh mannequin, do East Windsor police come upon some unpredictable things during traffic stops. 

When police pulled a man over for a routine traffic stop, his hooded, seat-belted passenger donning sunglasses and an apparent goatee turned out to be fake. 

Even more interesting was the driver's reason for having the makeshift mannequin in his front passenger seat, so East Windsor police posed the question on their Facebook page for people to guess. 

"Although strange, it sure made us laugh and they both agreed to a picture," East Windsor police asked on Facebook. "The reason for the mannequin being in the car was asked. Any guesses on the purpose? ‪#‎Fromthebeat‬"

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There were a lot of guesses that the man had the doll with the drawn-on goatee with him because he wanted to be able to drive in the carpool lane. Another person guessed so that no one steals his car when he's parked. Neither of those were the answer given to police, though the department admitted they thought being able to drive in the HOV lane was why he did it.

Though, later they pondered, "would anyone here actually take the time to do this simply to travel in the HOV lane?"

The answer? 

"To keep him company and protect him from road rage is the answer," East Windsor police said. "Very nice man. He was not traveling in a HOV lane at the time of the stop."

Have you ever done anything like this as a way to avoid unfortunate motor vehicle situations? Tell us in the comments!