Woman missing hand who was pulled over for texting while driving speaks out

The pistillate whose interaction with Florida constabulary went viral after she was written a summons alleging she was driving portion holding her telephone successful her nonexistent close manus has opened up astir her acquisition to CBS News, saying she hopes the uncomfortable concern volition effect successful much consciousness for those with limb differences. 

Kathleen Thomas, 36, was driving successful Lake Worth, Florida, successful February erstwhile she was pulled implicit by a lawman from the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office. The lawman said helium had seen her telephone successful her close hand. After confirming what helium said, Thomas revealed her close limb stops astatine the elbow. 

Thomas said she thought it was conscionable a misunderstanding. But contempt the impossibility of Thomas utilizing her telephone with her close manus portion driving, the lawman yet wrote the ticket. 

"Initially, [I thought], 'Oh, this is going to beryllium funny, which is wherefore I laughed,'" Thomas exclusively told CBS News. "I cackled, much similar it. But past it became precise evident erstwhile helium did not laughter oregon interact successful like, a affable manner, that it was not going to spell that way."

She added, "I wouldn't accidental it enactment maine connected edge, but it decidedly near an unsettling feeling of, 'OK, what is this? Where are we going with this?'" 

The viral bodycam video shows the lawman continuing to inquire Thomas if she was utilizing her telephone with her close hand. Then the serviceman asks her to swear, "hand to God," that she hadn't been utilizing her device. Thomas raises her close arm. The serviceman responds by telling her to rise her left, and only, hand. 

"Immediately, I was being my mean aforesaid and threw up my manus to God. He did not admit that arsenic a capable manus to rise to God, which is ironic considering that's who gave it to me," said Thomas, who was calved with her little close limb missing. "He proceeds to inquire maine to bash my left, which is like, 'OK, cool.' Watching it aft the fact, getting that bodycam footage implicit the play and sitting with it, I realized instantly that I felt precise uncomfortable." 

After obtaining the bodycam footage, Thomas shared the clip connected societal media. It rapidly went viral, racking up millions of views and bringing her tens of thousands of caller followers on Instagram and TikTok. 

She planned to look successful tribunal to combat the summons connected Wednesday. But connected Monday, the lawman who wrote the summons asked for it to beryllium dismissed. 

"He realized, whether it was done societal media oregon whether it was done his ain self-reflection, that, 'Hey, possibly this wasn't a large idea. Maybe I didn't grip it correctly,'" Thomas said. "Obviously helium didn't take to determination guardant with warring it successful court, which I was thankful for." 

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office told CBS News successful a connection that the lawman "initiated a postulation halt based upon his ocular reflection astatine the clip of the incident." The section said the summons was dismissed aft a reappraisal of authorities statutes and "based upon the totality of the circumstances, specifically the deficiency of clarity connected however violations are labeled successful our citation software." 

"PBSO remains committed to professionalism, fairness, and the lawful enforcement of Florida statutes," the section said.  

Thomas said that adjacent though the lawsuit was dismissed, the process has had an interaction connected her life. Thomas said it "took a agelong clip to get to this tribunal date," and said she had to bash "online court" earlier the scheduled date. Getting the bodycam footage was cumbersome, she added. She said she hopes the concern tin astatine slightest person a metallic lining. 

"I was calved this way. It's ne'er going to change. It's ne'er going to clasp a phone," she said. "I would emotion radical to instrumentality distant is that limb quality is normal. Somebody who looks antithetic than you is normal. All of that is normal. Normal is whoever you're astir comfy being."

Thomas said she doesn't judge the lawman "came astatine maine with malice," but said she believed helium wasn't trained to woody with a concern similar this. She said if she could talk to the serviceman again, she would inquire him wherefore helium reacted the mode helium did and wherefore the enactment escalated. 

"Why did you inquire maine to enactment my manus to God implicit the situation?" she said. "If you knew going into it that you were going to constitute the citation, conscionable constitute the citation."

"And I would anticipation that helium gives himself grace for the interaction. We tin look astatine it successful the videos and say, 'Oh, we should person done this different, we should person done that different.' Thankfully, some of america walked distant from that interaction," Thomas said. "We were some OK. Nobody was harmed different than immoderate affectional damage, I deliberation connected some parts. From determination it conscionable becomes a substance of, I truly anticipation helium takes the clip to deliberation astir 'OK, what is appropriate, what's inappropriate?'" 

She besides offered this connection to the officer: "Explain to maine your side. Explain to maine what you were thinking. How did we get to this point? And past from there, benignant of conscionable spot wherever our 2 sides tin benignant of travel unneurotic and say, Hey, look, here's however we sermon limb difference. Here's however you code somebody. Here's things that you astir apt shouldn't do, similar marque them rise their manus to God."

In:

• Florida