Officer Dressed As Homeless Man Catches Drivers Using Phones

BETHESDA, Md. (WJZ) -- There were surprises in store for drivers Tuesday when they were caught texting while driving.

Pat Warren has more on a texting sting in Montgomery County.

It was an undercover operation in Bethesda that no one saw coming.

A police officer dressed as a homeless man with a sign that said he is a Montgomery County police officer looking for cell phone violations---which drivers may have seen, were they not using their phones.

"Everybody texts, trust me," said one driver. "Everybody texts."

Apparently enough people to keep police busy.

"Some people didn't appreciate the fact that they believe I'm screwing up traffic," said one officer.

"Whether it's texting, Facebook, anything---you cannot be on your phone," said an officer

Drivers have their reasons:

"I wasn't on my phone; I was reading my text."

"I forgot my earpiece and I had a phone call, so I made a...not a good choice, but a choice nonetheless."

"I wasn't on my phone; I was on WAVE so I was looking at my navigation."

"A split second; anything can happen. If you're not paying attention at all times, you're going to have a collision. You're going to hurt someone else or maybe hurt yourself," said an officer.

The locations are picked at random. In a two-hour period, officers dished out 56 traffic citations and 22 warnings against drivers.