Nevada Highway Patrol officers gather to support federal law enforcement personnel as they block access to thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land that have been temporarily closed so they can round up illegal cattle that are grazing, south of Mesquite, Nevada, April 7, 2014. Armed U.S. rangers are rounding up cattle on federal land in Nevada in a rare showdown with Cliven Bundy, a rancher who has illegally grazed his herd on public lands for decades, as conflict over land use simmers in western states. Picture taken April 7, 2014. REUTERS/George Frey (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY CRIME LAW ENVIRONMENT ANIMALS)
Hearse driver tries to use corpse to drive in carpool lane
00:30 - Source: HLN
CNN  — 

Take note: Transporting a corpse doesn’t qualify you for the carpool lane.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka was on Interstate 15 on Monday when he noticed someone driving solo in the HOV lane.

He stopped the car – a Chrysler minivan – and was caught off-guard by what the driver said.

“The driver informed me that he had someone who was deceased in the back of the vehicle,” Smaka said.

The trooper peered inside, and sure enough, it was equipped like a hearse, with a rail and a gurney holding a deceased person.

The driver asked, “So, he doesn’t count in the back?”

Smaka said he got a good chuckle out of it but informed the driver that, no, deceased people do not count. He let the driver off with a warning.

“It just threw me off. That was more of the more interesting responses I’ve gotten,” Smaka said.

To drive in the HOV lane, there needs to be more than one living occupant in the vehicle, Smaka said. Mannequins and pets don’t count.