This is as close to a highbrow crime as we’re ever going to get.

A cop in Eagan, Minnesota spotted a guy swerving on a highway last week and pulled him over. But the guy wasn’t drunk, high, eating, or even texting.

No . . . he was READING.

He told the cop he was reading a JAMES PATTERSON book . . . and he was so engrossed in it that he couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t say WHICH James Patterson book. And since he puts out like 75 books a year, it’s hard to speculate.

But the cop wound up giving him a citation for dangerous driving.

Fox 9 – Minneapolis