Smoking An E-Cig in NY A Moving Violation?

[SidS1045]

From the National Motorists Association remailer:

Jason Dewing's story has a surreal quality to it. Well, it did take place in traffic court so anything is possible.
 
Dewing was stopped by an Upstate New York police officer for driving while using his cell phone. Only he wasn't using his cell phone, he was smoking an electronic cigarette. The officer didn't believe him and wrote him a ticket. Dewing showed up in court and used phone records to show he was not using his phone at the time of traffic stop.
 
The judge acknowledged as much, but that wasn't the end of it. The judge claimed that Dewing's e-cigarette qualified as a portable electronic device under New York law (after all, it's got batteries, it's portable and it's a device) so Dewing was still guilty.
 
Dewing countered by reciting the New York statute (1225-d) that covers driving while using portable electronic devices:
 
"Portable electronic device" shall mean any hand-held mobile telephone, as defined by subdivision one of section twelve hundred twenty-five-c of this article, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld device with mobile data access, laptop computer, pager, broadband personal communication device, two-way messaging device, electronic game, or portable computing device, or any other electronic device when used to input, write, send, receive, or read text for present or future communication. 

Clearly an e-cigarette doesn't meet that definition. Neither does a flashlight, an mp3 player, a camera, a hearing aid, a wristwatch or any number of medical devices. But by the judge's logic it's not inconceivable that a driver could land in hot water for using any one of them while driving in Upstate New York.
 
The judge and the DA were nonplused by Dewing's knowledge of the law; neither was familiar with these requirements, and the DA actually had to look up the statute to confirm the language. But it was too late, the judge had already found Dewing guilty. Case closed, though Dewing is considering an appeal based on judicial ignorance and stubbornness.

[Pete from Boston]

I'm curious what level of court this was.  "Judicial ignorance and stubbornness"  is the kind of thing you hear about happening a lot in the notorious village court system in New York. 

[jeffandnicole]

Isn't a car a portable electronic device?

[Scott5114]

A Tesla definitely would be. A traditional combustion-engine car? Probably not.