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Woman With No Right Hand Speaks Out After She Was Ticketed For Using Her Phone With Her Right Hand
On February 11, 2026, 36-year-old Kathleen Thomas was driving along the North Dixie Highway in Lake Worth, Florida, about an hour north of Miami, when a policeman pulled her over.
The cop, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy, accused Thomas of using her phone with her “right hand” while driving. In response, she held up her right arm, showing a stump where her forearm would be.
Despite Thomas’ missing right forearm, the officer didn’t let her go without a citation, but the case was dismissed just two days before it was scheduled to go to court.
After her initial video on the matter went viral, Thomas recently spoke up again following the latest development, sparking a wave of support from netizens, many of whom urged her to take legal action.
“She needs to sue the cop for improper detention and defamation,” one user said.
RELATED:
A cop asked a one-armed woman to swear “Hand to God” after accusing her of a traffic infraction
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
Thomas, who goes by Katie (Slightlyoff.balance) on social media, is a Florida-based fitness influencer and adaptive athlete who has competed in Hyrox, a global, standardized indoor fitness competition. She has more than 330,000 followers on TikTok and 457,000 followers on Instagram.
On February 13, 2026, two days after she received the citation, Thomas shared a video of the incident she filmed from inside the car, which has since garnered more than 5.6 million likes.
Image credits: Rahul Himkar/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
On May 26, the day before the case was set to go to court, she shared the clip from the deputy’s body-camera footage that was sent to her, which corroborated her initial claim.
According to the body-camera footage, the cop stopped Thomas at around 8:01 am. He introduced himself and said, “You drove past me, holding your phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone.”
Image credits: CBS News
Thomas, wearing a black shirt and sunglasses, showed him her missing right forearm, laughing and saying, “Obviously not. So, you want to just call this a day?”
However, the cop refused to let it go and asked her to swear she had not been using her phone while driving, “Hand to God.” When Thomas raised her right arm stump, the deputy asked her to say it with her other arm. Then, he asked for her driver’s license, registration, and insurance.
Image credits: CBS News
After reviewing her papers, the police officer issued a citation, charging Thomas with a first offense of using a wireless communication device (handheld) while driving, which carried a civil penalty of $116, according to CBS 12.
The citation against Kathleen Thomas was dropped at the request of the deputy who issued it
@slightlyoff.balance Low key thought I had two hands for a minute 🤦🏻♀️ #palmbeach#cops#PBSO#floridaman#pulledover♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
On April 22, Thomas posted a video on her social media that included a recording of a virtual court session in which she pleaded not guilty and demanded an in-person trial. She was told the court date would be in another 4-8 weeks.
The in-person court hearing was eventually scheduled for Wednesday, May 27. However, the police officer who stopped Thomas and issued the ticket requested that it be dismissed over the weekend.
Image credits: slightlyoff.balance
Thomas shared the update with her followers, revealing that she learned of the dismissal online but went to court anyway because she did not want to take a chance. She was handed a paper confirming the citation had been dismissed.
“I cannot make up the reason why it was dismissed. It says, ‘Lack of evidence.’ Bro, we knew that already,” she said on social media, showing her right arm.
Image credits: CBS News
Some netizens condemned the cop for dragging the matter this far instead of apologizing and moving on, while others advised Thomas to take him to court. A few speculated whether he requested the dismissal after Thomas’ initial video went viral.
“We want a public apology from him to her,” one user said. Another wrote, “Why is ‘I’m sorry, I was mistaken’ so hard for people?”
Kathleen Thomas raised questions about the traffic protocols pertaining to people with disability
@slightlyoff.balance Merry Christmas! Tas the night before court…. #bodycam#palmbeach#court#florida♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
Following the dismissal of the court case, Kathleen Thomas spoke with CBSNews and urged greater public discourse about ordeals like the one she endured.
“I originally was just like, this can’t be real, and laughed, and then when he did not, I realized he was serious,” she told interviewer Christian Benavides. “Thankfully, it was an interaction where it was a simple traffic stop misunderstanding, and it did not lead to anything further other than just receiving the citation.”
Image credits: CBS News
“I don’t think that they’re exposed enough to what to do if someone has a missing limb, that you pull over, and you thought you saw something that you might not have,” she added, emphasizing that while she was grateful that she walked away with a win, it might not be the case for everyone.
“I would love to ask those questions about what the protocols are, what kind of exposure you have, if you have any questions, and what we could do to make this interaction better for both of us.”
Image credits: CBS News
Attorney Ted Hollander, associated with the Florida citation law firm The Ticket Clinic, told CBS 12 that simply holding a phone is not a plausible enough cause for a ticket unless one is driving through a school zone or a construction area.
@slightlyoff.balance The finale!!!!! #court#cbs#update♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
“The fact that neither one is checked off tells me that this did not occur in one of those zones,” he said.
“So a lot of times people pay tickets that shouldn’t be paid, and this could have been one of those examples. But luckily, this lady seems to be standing up for herself.”
“Let’s normalize just apologizing.” The internet blasted the police officer for issuing a traffic citation to Kathleen Thomas
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