Excuse me officer: That’s not a cellphone, it’s my hash brown

A Connecticut man is doubling down on his deep-fried defense.

After he was ticketed for distracted driving last year, Jason Stiber decided to spend $1,000 in legal fees to contest the $300 citation.

Stiber’s argument is as straightforward as it is tasty: The officer who pulled him over, hemaintains, mistook the McDonald’s hash brown he was eating for a cellphone.

“It’s a big deal to my client,” Stiber’s attorney, John Thygerson, said,“but small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.”

Stiber was back in court last week, where Westport Police Cpl. Shawn Wong Won testified he “clearly”saw Stiber speaking into a black cellphone while driving.

Stiber, Won testified, was holding an illuminated object the size of a cellphone up to his face while moving his lips.

But Stiber’s lawyer laid out a multipronged defense to prove his client was simply eating his breakfast.

The lip movement, Thygerson, said, was “consistent with chewing” the hash brown Stiber had ordered.

Phone records show Stiber was not having a conversation at the time he was pulled over. And besides, Stiber’s car has Bluetooth capabilities that allow him to talk without holding his phone.

To augment their defense, Thygerson noted that Won was finishing the 15th hour of a 16hour double shift when he pulled Stiber over, offering another reason the officer may have been confused.

“My argument is simple: simple human error,” Thygerson said.

A judge will probably issue a verdict in the case before April 5.