Texas woman pulled over for driving in HOV lane gives birth to her 2nd passenger
The Texas pregnant woman who went viral for fighting a traffic ticket with the argument that her unborn child should count as a second passenger just had her baby.
Brandy Bottone shared the good news on Instagram on Saturday, Aug. 6 that her second passenger — a baby girl — has arrived safely.
"My second passenger has arrived," she wrote in the caption. "We are so in love and will be spending all our time loving on baby girl."
In June 2022, Bottone was stopped at a sheriff’s checkpoint when she was driving down the expressway in the high-occupancy vehicle lane. By law, in order to occupy these lanes drivers must have at least one passenger in the vehicle with them.
Bottone told NBC DFW, an NBC affiliate in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex, that when she was stopped by the officer, they began to search her car for another passenger.
“He’s like, ‘Is it just you?’ I said, ‘No, there’s two of us?’” she explained. “He said, ‘Well, where’s the other person?’”
She pointed to her stomach and said, “Right here,” as she was 34 weeks pregnant at the time. The officer discredited her argument, telling Bottone that her unborn child did not count as an additional passenger in this case.
“And then I said, ‘Well (I’m) not trying to throw a political mix here, but with everything going on (with Roe v. Wade), this counts as a baby,’” she him.
Bottone ultimately received a $275 ticket, but had plans to fight the fine during a court date scheduled for July 20. That court appearance was rescheduled for a later date.
