You can fly a helicopter while texting, talking, drinking or any number of other things. You cannot fly or control a helicopter without Rotor RPM. And without fuel it is hard to maintain altitude.
I know this thread is now concentrating on texting in flight, however the initial texting referred to in the OP incident, was the first slice of the cheese even before the rotors first started to turn.
(1) the pilot’s distracted attention due to personal texting during safety-critical ground and flight operations,