Police have dropped charges against a one-armed driver accused of holding her phone with a hand she does not have.
Kathleen Thomas, who describes herself as an adaptive athlete “doing one arm s**t” was stopped by police in Florida in February, according to the New York Post.
Body cam footage released to US media shows the officer tell her that “we are doing an operation for distracted driving and you drove past me holding a phone with your right hand”.
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The video then shows Thomas raise her right arm, show the officer her right hand is missing, saying “Obviously not, so do you want to call this a day?”
“You didn’t see me with my right hand,” she said.
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Video of the interaction went viral on social media, as the officer doubled down by saying “hand to God, you did not have a phone in your hand”, then asking her to swear with “ the other hand to god, you did not have a phone in your hand”.
Footage posted to Thomas’ Instagram page attracted almost 80 million views and 6 million likes.
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In a follow-up video posted outside a Florida courtroom, Thomas told followers that the. Case against her was dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Supporters on social media took her side throughout the ordeal.
Some criticised the police officer who falsely accused her of driving while holding a phone in her right hand, saying it was “genuinely concerning a cop like that exists”, “the way he doubles down instead of saying ‘wow, my bad’ is wild,” and that “hand to god is an insane question after that whole interaction”.
Others supported her fight for justice, saying they were “sad you didn’t get to see a judge laugh at him”, and that she “single-handedly beat the case!”
