Story Archive

Call Me the Moment You Hear

Jason Stiber of Westport, Conn., was pulled over by police when the officer saw him talking on the phone while driving. Stilber insists he was not: he had just stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s. “He said he saw me on a cellphone,” Stiber said. “I was thinking he had seen the hash brown,” which he was eating. But he still received a $300 citation after the officer refused to look at the phone’s call log. Stilber proved that he was not on the phone by bringing his cell phone bill to court, which showed no calls at the time in question, but the judge convicted him anyway. Stilber wouldn’t accept that: he appealed to the state Superior Court in Norwalk. He paid a lawyer $1,000 to defend him, but that still would save him money: his car insurance went up $1,000 because of the ticket. He had to wait for a court date, and then the ruling. Almost exactly a year after the incident, the state judge declared Stilber not guilty. (RC/Westport News) ...He’ll celebrate with all-he-can-eat hash browns from McDonald’s — but not “to go.”