A Florida woman was pulled over, accused of holding her phone in her right hand while driving, and issued a $116 citation. There’s one detail that makes this story what it is: she doesn’t have a right hand.
Katie, a Florida influencer and adaptive athlete who documents life with a limb difference under the handle @Slightlyoff.balance, was stopped by a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy on February 11 along North Dixie Highway. The deputy told her she’d been observed holding a phone in her right hand. Katie lifted her right arm, clearly without a hand, in response. The deputy kept writing the ticket.
She was cited under Florida Statute 316.305(3)(a) for wireless device use while driving, first offense, with a civil penalty of $116. Days later, she posted a recap on TikTok, and it went viral immediately.
Merry Christmas! Tas the night before court…. #bodycam #palmbeach #court #florida
Florida Deputy Cites Woman for Using Right Hand She Does Not Have
In the months that followed, Katie documented the entire dispute process on social media, pleaded not guilty in late April, and was scheduled to return to court on May 27. The day before her hearing, she uploaded body-camera footage she’d obtained from the stop, and the internet did the rest.
In the footage, the deputy explains why he pulled her over. Katie raises her right arm and says, “Obviously not,” before laughing and adding, “So you wanna just call this a day?” The deputy says he saw her holding a device with her right hand and asks her to put her “hand to God.” She raises her right arm again. He tells her to use the other hand.
He then asked for her license and registration and wrote the citation anyway.
Before the scheduled May 27 hearing, the deputy requested that the citation be dismissed. According to CBS 12, it was dismissed over the holiday weekend due to “lack of evidence.” Katie confirmed the outcome in an Instagram post.
Katie spent months fighting a ticket for something her own body makes impossible, had to go semi-viral to get anyone to take it seriously, and found out the citation was dropped days before she was due back in court. The deputy cited “lack of evidence” as the reason for dismissal. The evidence was visible from the driver’s seat.
The post Florida Woman Ticketed for Holding Phone in Right Hand, Despite Not Having a Right Hand appeared first on VICE.
