Can an officer pull over and cite someone if he or she did not actually see the person texting?
Police officers have to “observe the actual violation” to pull you over, says Wayne Sampson, retired police chief and director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. But since texting while driving can lead to other offenses, like weaving in between lanes or failing to stop at a red light, police officers can pull a driver over for another driving violation and, if they see that there is an open phone, that “may become an additional charge,” Sampson says.
