Florida Deputy Tickets Driver for Holding Phone in a Hand She Does Not Have

A Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy pulled over 36-year-old Kathleen Thomas in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, back in February.

His accusation was simple. He said he saw her holding or working a cellphone with her right hand.

There was one detail he had not accounted for. Thomas does not have a right hand.

Her right arm ends at the elbow.

She showed him. He kept going and wrote the citation anyway.

The bodycam footage surfaced this week, and people online noticed fast.

The video shows the deputy lecturing Thomas about distracted driving while she flashes the arm that physically cannot hold a phone.

Fox News shared the bodycam footage with the part of the exchange that made the clip take off:

A Florida deputy thought he had caught a distracted driver red-handed.

Then he walked up to the window and discovered the driver…only had one hand.

Kathleen Thomas was pulled over on suspicion of using a cellphone with her right hand while… pic.twitter.com/j9XYHqpgsm

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 29, 2026

Here is how Fox News described the moment the stop fell apart:

A Florida sheriff’s deputy is facing intense internet backlash after viral body camera video captured him doubling down and ticketing a woman for using a phone in her right hand — even after she revealed her right arm stops at the elbow.

The roadside hiccup went down in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, in February, when a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy pulled over 36-year-old Kathleen Thomas. The officer insisted she was clutching a cellphone in her right hand.

But body camera footage released this week captures the moment the deputy’s case blew up.

As the officer began lecturing her about the dangers of distracted driving, Thomas did not even bother to argue. Instead, she flashed her right arm, which ends at the forearm.

“So obviously not,” Thomas said, bursting into laughter in the now viral clip. “So you want to just call this a day or…?”

“I don’t want to call a day. You had a hand manipulator,” the deputy said.

“I thought I saw your hand.”

“Well you didn’t,” Thomas replied. The deputy then appeared to backtrack, saying, “With the right hand, perhaps not,” before continuing the stop.

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Thomas says she figured it would clear up the second the deputy realized his mistake.

It did not work out that way.

Local10 carried more of the exchange from the bodycam footage:

Video of a traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral over an awkward exchange between the driver and a deputy who accused her of holding a phone while driving.

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“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone,” the deputy tells 36-year-old Kathleen “Katie” Thomas.

“Obviously not,” Thomas says while laughing and holding up her right arm, showing that she’s missing her right hand.

“So you wanna call this a day?” she asks.

“I don’t want to call this a day. You had a hand up, manipulating,” the deputy responds.

“You just said my right hand,” Thomas counters.

“Well, I thought I saw your right hand,” the deputy says.

“So you didn’t,” Thomas responds.

Thomas posted the bodycam footage on Instagram and TikTok where it gained millions of likes.

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In the video, although she shows the deputy she doesn’t have a right hand, the deputy doubled down.

“I’m asking you now; did you or not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.

“I did not,” Thomas responds.

“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.

“Hand to God,” Thomas says.

Court records show Thomas was given a $116 citation despite the presented evidence, but it was later dismissed at the request of the deputy involved.

The Telegraph also posted the clip as the story kept spreading beyond Florida:

When Kathleen Thomas was pulled over by a police officer who accused her of driving while using her phone in her right hand, she had a very good defence – she didn’t have a right hand.

Ms Thomas, 36, was issued a ticket in February by a sheriff’s deputy working on traffic… pic.twitter.com/7vSD55AceS

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 30, 2026

That observation, whatever it was, did not survive contact with reality.

The law the deputy was leaning on exists for a real reason. Florida’s texting-while-driving statute is built to stop people from manually typing into a phone behind the wheel.

Here is the relevant text from The Florida Senate:

316.305 Wireless communications devices; prohibition.—

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(1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law.”

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature to:

(a) Improve roadway safety for all vehicle operators, vehicle passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and other road users.

(b) Prevent crashes related to the act of text messaging while driving a motor vehicle.

(c) Reduce injuries, deaths, property damage, health care costs, health insurance rates, and automobile insurance rates related to motor vehicle crashes.

(d) Authorize law enforcement officers to stop motor vehicles and issue citations to persons who are texting while driving.

(3)(a) A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other characters into a wireless communications device.

For the purposes of this section, a motor vehicle that is stationary is not being operated and is not subject to the prohibition in this paragraph.

(b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to a motor vehicle operator who is:

Nobody is arguing the statute is bad. Distracted driving kills people.

The issue is the refusal to back off once the basic facts were sitting right in front of him.

The citation was eventually dismissed. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Terri Barbera confirmed as much to Fox News.

CBS News reported the deputy himself asked for the ticket to be tossed before Thomas was due in court.

So the system corrected itself, but only after the video did the heavy lifting.

A driver should not need a viral clip and a press cycle to get out of a ticket for an act she is physically incapable of committing.

Thomas comes off as patient and fair in the footage, more bewildered than angry.

The deputy is the one who turned a quick misunderstanding into a story the whole country watched.

The lesson is old and simple. When someone shows you the facts, look at the facts.