‘Distracted’ driver tests hash brown defense
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Jason Stiber could probably just pay his $1,000 fine for distracted driving and get on with his life, but the Westport, Conn., man goes to court soon in search of justice, he says.
Stiber was pulled over for talking on his hash brown. That's his story, anyway. The cops tell a different one. It was a cellphone.
“I was eating a hash brown and he thought he saw a cellphone near my mouth,” Stiber tells Hearst Media.
Stiber says he'd have no reason to put a cellphone up to his ear; he's got Bluetooth. And he says phone records show he didn't make or receive any calls in the hour before he was stopped.
Nevertheless, the police persisted. And they won.
In an August trial, Stiber provided the proof but a judge found him guilty anyway. He's asked for another trial.
His $1,000 attorney fee is about the same amount his insurance went up because of the ticket in April.
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