LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — A woman’s traffic citation was dismissed after a deputy accused her of holding a cellphone in a hand that did not exist, body camera footage obtained by CBS News shows.
The video from the Feb. 11 traffic stop shows the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy approaching the vehicle window after initiating a traffic stop. He introduced himself and told her that he had stopped her for distracted driving.
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When he specified that he saw her holding a cellphone in her right hand, the woman raised her arm to show that she did not have a right hand.
“So obviously not,” she can be heard saying. “So do you want to just call this a day?”
The deputy answered that he did not want to call it a day, insisting that he saw her holding a phone.
“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“Hand to God,” the woman answered, raising her right arm.
After asking her to raise her other “hand to God,” the deputy requested her license and vehicle registration.
The deputy issued her a ticket for violating Florida’s wireless communications while driving law, but later requested that the citation be dismissed, CBS 12 reported. The case gained widespread attention when the woman posted a video about it on social media.
