Kathleen Thomas, 36, was pulled over in February 2026 by a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy on North Dixie Highway. The deputy accused her of using her right hand to operate a phone while driving, despite Thomas missing her right hand above the forearm [1, 2, 3, 4].
Bodycam footage recorded during the stop shows the deputy insisting he saw Thomas holding a phone in her right hand. Thomas raised her right arm to show it ends at the forearm with no hand. The officer pressed her to swear to God she was not using a phone. Thomas said, "Obviously not. So you want to just call this a day or...?" The deputy responded, "I thought I saw your hand." He then asked her to swear using her other hand, creating an awkward exchange [1, 5, 6, 3, 7, 8, 9].
Despite the physical evidence and explanations, the deputy issued Thomas a citation for distracted driving under Florida Statute 316.305(3)(a) with a $116 fine [1, 5, 6, 2, 3, 10, 4, 7, 9]. Thomas disputed the ticket and requested a hearing, originally set for May 27, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 10, 4].
Thomas, an adaptive athlete and social media influencer who documents life with a limb difference, publicly shared the full bodycam footage on TikTok and other platforms in late May. The videos went viral and prompted criticism of the police for poor judgment and insensitivity toward disabled individuals [1, 6, 2, 3, 10, 4, 7, 8, 9].
At an earlier court appearance in April, Thomas pleaded not guilty and requested the footage. Prior to the scheduled May 27 hearing, the deputy requested the case be dismissed, citing a lack of evidence. The court dismissed the citation officially on May 28, 2026 [1, 5, 6, 2, 3, 10, 4, 7, 9].
Thomas commented after the dismissal, "They said lack of evidence is why the case was dropped, but honestly we knew from the start there was no evidence at all." The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the citation dismissal [1, 7, 9].
