Florida cop pulls over disabled, one-handed woman for holding cellphone while driving — but drops charges over obvious ‘lack of evidence’
A Florida cop pulled over what he thought was a distracted driver using her cellphone while she whizzed past him — but was floored when he learned she only had one hand.
Kathleen Thomas, 36, was pulled over by an officer with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in February on suspicion of distracted driving.
The cop marched over to Thomas’ vehicle on the side of North Dixie Highway and told her that he caught her “holding the phone with your right hand” and “manipulating that phone” while she was driving, according to police body camera footage obtained by CBS News.
Her response: Thomas simply held out her right arm — flashing the stump where a hand would normally be.
“So I’m obviously not,” she laughed. “So you wanna just call this a day?”
The cop, though, refused to budge.
“I don’t want to ‘call it a day,’ he insisted. “You had a hand up.”
A flabbergasted Thomas repeatedly told him he didn’t see her right hand, since she didn’t have one.
The officer asked her to put a “hand to God” that she hadn’t been using her phone while she was driving.
“Hand to God,” Thomas said as she held up her right arm.
“The other hand to God,” the officer awkwardly told her.
The officer reviewed Thomas’ license and registration before issuing her a citation for allegedly violating Florida’s wireless communications while driving law.
It was Thomas’ first offense and came with a $116 penalty, CBS 12 reported.
To no surprise, she challenged the citation in court. But a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled when the officer involved in the traffic stop requested a dismissal due to “lack of evidence,” Thomas announced on TikTok.
“Bro, we knew that already,” she chided.
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