When a Cobb County police officer cited an Alabama man eating a hamburger while driving, the ticket made national headlines. But Cobb County Solicitor General Barry Morgan, whose office prosecutes misdemeanors such as traffic offenses, says it's not the first case of its kind.
Morgan has seen people ticketed for applying makeup while driving and even reading a newspaper while behind the wheel during rush hour on I-75, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In each case, it’s generally not the specific action alone that violates the law. It’s when that action distracts a driver and leads to unsafe driving that there’s a problem, Morgan said.
Madison Turner said he was pulled over last week by an officer who told him, “you can’t just go down the road eating a hamburger,” and was given a ticket for allegedly not exercising due care.
Morgan declined to discuss the specifics of Turner’s ticket, but said he will prosecute the case if he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that eating the burger affected Turner’s driving. The driver has to be engaging in an action, the action has to be distracting and the distraction has to cause the vehicle to be operated in an unsafe manner, Morgan said.
“To be successful and prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, all three elements have to be present,” Morgan said.
In similar cases, officers may cite drivers for being distracted, but not for every violation allegedly committed, such as not maintaining lane or weaving.
Cobb police have not commented on the case.
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