A viral bodycam video has drawn attention after a Palm Beach County traffic stop involving Kathleen “Katie” Thomas, a 36-year-old adaptive athlete and influencer who is an amputee and does not have a right hand. According to the footage and local reporting, a deputy pulled her over on February 11 during an enforcement effort targeting distracted driving and accused her of holding a phone in her right hand while driving. Thomas showed the officer that she had no right hand, but the citation was still issued.
The incident quickly spread online after the bodycam footage was released as part of discovery and then shared on social media, where viewers reacted to the officer’s insistence despite the obvious physical impossibility of the accusation. In the video, the deputy appears to continue with the stop and issues a $116 ticket under Florida law. He also asks Thomas to swear that she was not holding a phone, a moment that added to the viral response.
Thomas later did not need to fight the ticket in court. CBS12 reported that the citation was dismissed after the officer who made the stop requested that the charge be dropped. Thomas had been expected to appear in court this week, but the case was closed without her needing to present a defense.
The episode has prompted discussion about distracted driving enforcement, disability awareness, and the limits of relying on brief roadside observations. Distracted driving remains a serious public safety issue, but the circumstances of this case made the accusation against Thomas impossible to sustain. The situation also highlighted how a routine traffic stop can escalate when an officer refuses to reconsider an error in the moment.
Florida law does not punish merely holding a phone; enforcement generally concerns actual use of a handheld device, such as texting or other prohibited activity. In this case, however, the more immediate issue was the deputy’s mistaken assumption. The dismissal ended the matter, but the bodycam footage ensured that the encounter would continue circulating widely as an example of an extraordinary and awkward law enforcement mistake.
Thomas’s case resonated because it combined a serious topic with an undeniably absurd detail. While distracted driving enforcement is intended to improve road safety, the stop against an amputee who could not physically do what she was accused of doing made the incident stand out. The viral video turned the traffic stop into a broader conversation about judgment, accountability, and how quickly an official interaction can become public embarrassment when facts on the ground do not match the accusation.
