Carpool lane cheater ticketed when trooper notices hat-wearing ball isn't a baby

SEATTLE, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The Washington State Patrol said a man driving in the carpool lane was ticketed when his infant passenger was revealed to be a ball wearing a hat.

Trooper Rick Johnson, public information officer for WSP District 2 in King County, said in a Twitter post that the vehicle was pulled over while driving in the high-occupancy vehicle lanes of State Route 167 when a trooper noticed the vehicle's tags were expired.

The trooper approached the man's car and noticed something odd about the occupant of an infant's car seat in the back.

"Driver admitted it was a ball with a hat!" Johnson wrote.