What is the limit of the police?

Question

A friend was pulled over on the side of the road parked talking on his cell phone, a police officer pulls behind him walks up to the car, my friend rolls his window down and when the officer ask what he is doing he tells him that he had a phone call and pulled over to take it. The officer tells him to hang the phone up and step out the car, he tells the officer he is doing nothing wrong and that it is an important phone call and that he will be with him in a minute. Needless to say it went down hill from there. Did the officer have the right to make him stop his phone call or should the officer have waited for him to finish if he wanted to ask him more questions? In the end he leaves with no citations.

Answer 1

It isn't possible to answer this question without information from the officer.  Depending on the circumstances, it might have been entirely appropriate for the officer to order your friend to hang up the phone and get out of the car.

Answer 2

When a police officer asks you to do something, you do it.  Your friend would have received a beating in many parts of the country for his behavior.  You can always file a complaint AFTER you comply.

Answer 3

Since you don't state what country you're in, I won't either.

He was still 'in charge of a motor vehicle' despite being parked. By using his phone whilst in charge of said motor vehicle, he was commiting an offence and as such, broke the law.