SOUTH HACKENSACK, NJ (WCBS/CNN) – Police say a woman in New Jersey drove for eight miles with a traffic sign sticking out of her sunroof and glass all over the inside and top of the car.
Maria Vazquez, 52, pulled over Saturday just as South Hackensack Police Officer David Polanco was about to stop her. He had seen a traffic sign protruding from the sunroof of Vazquez’s black sedan.
The woman told Polanco she stopped because she heard a strange noise coming from underneath her car,
But it wasn’t until the officer pointed out the sign, which directed people to a bus, that she took notice of it.
"When I pointed it to out to her, she said, 'Wow, I didn't even know that was there,’” Polanco said. "But there was glass all over the inside of the car and all over the top of the car."
Police say Vazquez was baffled and drunk. She failed two sobriety tests and a breathalyzer reading.
If the sign, which was apparently made of steel, had been a couple inches closer to Vazquez, police say she could have been severely injured or killed.
Vazquez told police she may have traveled with the sign for eight miles from Secaucus, NJ, where she had been drinking.
Police are still not sure how the sign ended up in Vazquez’s car.
"I've never seen anything like it,” Polanco said.
Vazquez was charged with driving while intoxicated.
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