Traffic Law
Texting-and-driving charges dropped against woman without right hand
A Florida woman’s traffic citation for driving while texting with her right hand was dropped after bodycam footage showed that she only had one hand. (Image from Shutterstock)
A Florida woman’s traffic citation for driving while texting with her right hand was dropped after bodycam footage showed that she only had one hand.
A Palm Beach County, Florida, sheriff’s office deputy pulled over Kathleen Thomas, 36, of Lake Worth Beach, Florida, for violating Florida’s texting-while-driving law in February, according to coverage by MSN.com and USA Today.
The officer said Thomas was “manipulating” her phone with her right hand, even though she didn’t have a right hand because she was born with a limb difference.
She later posted the bodycam video on TikTok on May 28, which showed her raising her right arm in the air to show the officer.
“So obviously not,” she told him. “So you wanna just call this a day?”
Instead, she was issued a ticket for $116, which was later dismissed May 27 before her court appearance, according to court records. The state’s text-while-driving law has been in effect since 2013; however, in 2019 drivers could be pulled over for the offense.
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