‘Perfect souvenir.’ New driver’s license photo shows California woman in face mask

When Lesley Pilgrim got to the front of a California Department of Motor Vehicles line, she was so frightened of being sent back for violating coronavirus precautions that she forgot to take off her face mask for a new driver’s license photo.

“It was honestly really intimidating,” Pilgrim, 25, told CNN. “Immediately when I got there, I was like, ’Oh my gosh I better not break any of these rules because they’re going to send me to the back of the line.’”

A DMV worker mistakenly snapped a photo of Pilgrim in her face mask, then took a second photo without. But the one of Pilgrim in her mask wound up on her new driver’s license.

“My first reaction was, I was concerned,” said Pilgrim, a Laguna Hills resident who hails from Sacramento, KCRA reported. “This can’t be legal identification. There’s no way that if I give this to a police officer or a TSA agent, that they’re not going to arrest me.”

A DMV official blamed the goof on an “oversight,” KTLA reported. It’s investigating the incident and will arrange for Pilgrim to receive a new ID with a correct photo for free.

The agency has issued 9.6 million Real IDs, with no other photo mistakes reported, KCRA reported.

“It’s definitely a sign of the times,” Pilgrim told CNN. “It’s going to be the perfect souvenir for me to look back on.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 10:44 AM with the headline "‘Perfect souvenir.’ New driver’s license photo shows California woman in face mask."