A woman was arrested after the California Highway Patrol officer who pulled her car over found nine people crammed inside, including two children in the trunk.
“I have never heard of this,” said Officer Wendy Hahn. “There was no room left in the car, so she puts two of the kids in the trunk. We’re trying to get people to buckle up, and this is what we find.”
Lavern Dunlap, 35, of Glendora, was pulled over about 8 p.m. Friday after another driver reported seeing a woman closing the trunk of her Toyota Corolla with two children inside as the vehicle sat parked on a shoulder.
Dunlap told the officer she was heading to her sister’s house in Palmdale, about a 60-mile trip.
The officer discovered a 15-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl in the trunk, four children in the back seat, an adult in the front passenger seat with a child on her lap and Dunlap behind the wheel. No one was wearing a seat belt, she said.
Dunlap was booked on suspicion of child cruelty and was released. She is scheduled to appear next month in court.