In February, a sheriff’s deputy was working on traffic enforcement in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., when he stopped a 36-year-old woman named Kathleen Thomas. After approaching her car, he explained why he had pulled her over: She had been holding her cellphone in her right hand.
But before he could get very far with his explanation, Ms. Thomas held up her right arm. There was no phone in it. There had never been a phone in it because she has no right hand.
“So obviously not,” she says, laughing, in body camera footage of the encounter that was released this week after she had obtained the video and posted it on social media.
Ms. Thomas was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, but the Palm Beach County deputy who had conducted the stop requested the citation be dismissed, according to court records.
Their exchange quickly spread across social media this week, bringing scrutiny to the traffic stop.
“As with any enforcement action, motorists have the right to contest citations through the judicial process, where all facts and evidence can be fully evaluated,” Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman with the sheriff’s department, said in an emailed statement.
The statement offered no explanation for what had happened during the stop.
What happened next, however, was captured on video.
“So you want to just call this a day or …?” Ms. Thomas asks, still laughing off the mistake. The deputy, however, whose name has not been released, insists he saw a phone. Ms. Thomas again shows her right arm.
At one point the deputy appeals to a higher authority.
“Hand to God, you did not have your phone in your hand?” he is heard asking her in the video.
In the body-camera footage, Ms. Thomas raises her right arm before switching to her left hand.
The deputy eventually requested that the citation be dismissed, according to court records. After the hearing, Ms. Thomas posted another video online to share the news.
The explanation, she said, was “lack of evidence.”
“Bruh,” she said. “We knew that already.”
Ms. Thomas, an adaptive athlete, told CBS that she was born with part of her arm missing and that she hoped the officer would reflect on the interaction and learn from it. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said the department was reviewing the deputy’s conduct.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
Mark Walker is a Times reporter who covers breaking news and culture.
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