The Florida deputy who went viral for accusing a woman of holding a phone in her right hand while driving – only for her to reveal that her right arm has no hand – has issued more than 800 traffic citations since Jan. 1, averaging about 160 citations per month, well above what is typical for a law enforcement officer.
The incident, captured on video, shows him citing Kathleen “Katie” Thomas even after she proved him wrong. The case was dismissed this week for “insufficient evidence,” raising questions about his motives.
Court records indicate Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Yosvani Quesada may be more focused on generating revenue for the county than on public safety.
He also appears accustomed to judges taking his word over the people he cites.
However, Thomas obtained Quesada’s body camera footage and posted it to her TikTok account the day before her trial, clearly showing she was not holding a phone in her (nonexistent) right hand.
The video shows Quesada approaching her after the traffic stop and saying, “You drove past me holding the phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone.”
Thomas, 36, responds by lifting her right arm, revealing that her right forearm ends in a stump.
“Obviously not,” she says, laughing. “So you want to just call it a day or?”
“I don’t want to call it a day. You had your hand up, manipulating the phone,” he insists.
“You just said my right hand,” she replies.
Quesada continues to insist she was holding a phone, then asks her to raise her left hand and swear she was not holding one, which she does.
He cited her anyway for “Wireless Communications Device/Handheld While Driving – First Offense,” requiring a $116 fine.
“OK, so we had court this morning and dismissed,” Thomas said in a May 27 TikTok video after her hearing.
Watch the video below.
Attorney’s Perspective
Considering the number of citations he issues, Quesada was probably counting on her to just pay the fine and move on.
But Thomas was recording the stop on her phone when she was pulled over on Feb. 11 which she posted to TikTok two days later.
“Turns out you can get a ticket for driving with a device in your right hand even if you don’t have a right hand,” she said, showing her viewers her amputated hand before showing the video she recorded.
But even if she was holding a phone in her right hand, she would have needed to be manually typing into it for the citation to be valid because the law is focused on texting.
The only exception to not being allowed to hold a phone is if a person is driving through a school or work zone.
“A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols, or other characters into a wireless communications device or while sending or reading data on such a device for the purpose of nonvoice interpersonal communication, including, but not limited to, communication methods known as texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging,” states the statute.
@slightlyoff.balance UPDATE!!!!!!! We throwing hand(s) in 4 to 8 weeks. Who’s coming? #court #palmbeachcounty #cops #pulledover #onearm ♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
The statute allows drivers to hold a phone for speaking and for navigation purposes as long as they are not driving through school zones or work zones which was not the case here.
“Whether she’s holding it in her right hand or her left hand, it really doesn’t matter,” attorney Ted Hollander with the Ticket Clinic told CBS 12.
“If you are not in a school zone or a construction zone, you are allowed to hold a cellphone.”
