Complaint Over Police Cell Phone Use Followed by Citation, Charge of Retaliation

Mike Beaudet
MyFoxBoston
May. 19, 2014

The way Dr. Curtis Schondelmeyer sees it, the Lexington police officer talking on his cell phone was so distracted by the conversation he was having the officer wasn’t paying enough attention to the rush hour traffic at the intersection of Bedford Street and an office park outlet.

As Schondelmeyer recalls, he raised his camera phone and snapped a picture, planning to send it to Lexington police as part of his complaint.

“He was on his cell phone in his right hand, talking very animated on his cell phone, while trying to direct traffic out of the parking lot and also stop traffic on the four-lane road there,” Schondelmeyer told FOX Undercover reporter Mike Beaudet.

The officer noticed Schondelmeyer but didn't stop him, and Schondelmeyer went on his way, reporting the incident to Lexington police the next day.

A few days after that, he got a ticket in the mail charging him with impeded operation with a handheld device, a $40 ticket that could result in an insurance surcharge.

But there's one big problem with that, according to Schondelmeyer.

“I was not driving so I was upset with the fact that it was clearly you were so distracted on the cell phone you couldn't catch what was going on in the car,” he said.

Read More