An incident involving a law enforcement officer and a one-handed woman in Florida has drawn lots of attention online after she was accused of being a distracted driver.
Thirty-six-year-old Kathleen Thomas was pulled over in February because an officer with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office suspected her of not keeping her eyes on the road, the New York Post reported Wednesday.
The officer thought she had been using her cellphone but Thomas showed him that it was impossible.
“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand,” he told her. However, Thomas lifted her right arm and showed him she did not have a right hand at all.
“Obviously not,” she told him, laughing. “So you wanna just call this a day?” she added.
“I don’t want to call it a day. You had a hand up,” the officer said, claiming he saw her holding up a phone with her right hand. Thomas raised her arm again.
“The other hand to God you did not have one in your hand?” he asked her, and she raised her left hand:
The officer gave her a citation for allegedly violating the state’s wireless communications while driving law, but the citation was later dismissed, according to CBS 12.
“Florida’s Wireless Communications While Driving Law has been in effect since 2013 and was strengthened in 2019, making texting while driving a primary offense, meaning drivers can be pulled over solely for that violation,” the outlet said, noting that it is not currently illegal to hold a phone outside certain zones.
Florida legislators proposed a bill in January to prohibit people from driving while holding their phone or a communication device which would also require them to use wireless devices, NBC Miami reported.
“Florida Law already prohibits phone use while driving, but the bill’s sponsor, Vero Beach Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican, said there would be harsher penalties for violators,” the outlet said.