This Man Received A $300 Traffic Ticket Because Of A McDonald’s Hash Brown

There’s nothing worse than a distracted driver — and even with Bluetooth, people still insist on making calls and sending texts while on the road. Though it’s incredible that cops are on the lookout for cell phone use while driving, they should realize that sometimes their eyes might actually deceive them. Despite the fact that his phone bill clearly states that he wasn’t making a call right before he was pulled over, one man in Westport, Connecticut still got ticketed. The police accidentally mistook his McDonald’s hashbrown for a cell phone, and he reportedly was asked to pay $300 for the mistake.

The incident took place on the morning of April 11th. Jason Stiber was pulled over by Corporal Wong Won, who wrote him up for using his phone while driving. “I was eating a hash brown and he thought he saw a cell phone near my mouth,” Stiber said to Times Union. He mentioned this to the police officer, but was still written up.

Believing in justice, he wanted to maintain his innocence. So, with cell phone records in hand, he went to court. Even with proof, the judge found him guilty.

However, Stiber is still fighting. He’ll have a retrial on December 7th and even hired a lawyer to make things right again.

It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it. All Stiber wanted to do was enjoy his hash brown, but now he’s facing over a thousand dollars in legal fees, including the initial cost of the ticket. You’d assume that the phone records, along with the fact that he has Bluetooth capability in his car, would have saved him.

So far, it doesn’t look like McDonald’s has responded to the story. But if they see it, they should offer up at least a year of free hash browns for all the trouble this man has endured.