Dude, just admit you were mistaken.
A Florida woman is speaking out after recently being pulled over for driving with a phone in her right hand. The only problem is, she doesn’t have a right hand.
The incident happened back on February 11, when a deputy with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office pulled the woman over during a distracted driving enforcement operation for what he says was driving with a device in her right hand. And the bodycam footage only shows the absurdity of the entire situation.
The deputy walks up to the car and tells the woman that she drove past him while holding a phone in her right hand. She then raises her right arm to show that he was clearly mistaken – and in fact, it would be impossible to hold anything in her right hand, because she doesn’t have one. She understandably presumes that will be the end of the traffic stsop:
“So you wanna just call this a day?”
But the deputy wasn’t willing to admit his mistake, and continued on with issuing the ticket:
“I don’t wanna call it a day, you had a hand up manipulating a phone.”
Even after asking her to put her “hand to God” that she wasn’t holding a phone, the officer still asks for her license and registration, and ultimately issued a $116 ticket for “Wireless Comm. Device/Handheld While Driving – First Offense.”
@slightlyoff.balance Merry Christmas! Tas the night before court…. #bodycam #palmbeach #court #florida ♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
After being issued the ticket, the woman asked the officer whether he wrote on the citation that he saw her holding it in her right hand, and the officer confirms that he didn’t put it on the ticket but doesn’t deny that’s what he told her.
@slightlyoff.balance Low key thought I had two hands for a minute 🤦🏻♀️ #palmbeach #cops #PBSO #floridaman #pulledover ♬ original sound – slightlyoff.balance
The comments had a field day with the officer’s incompetence, while pointing out how terrifying it is that he insisted on writing the ticket even when he was clearly wrong:
“Why is it so hard for them to say, “I made a mistake, I’m sorry, have a nice day?””
“She is going to win this case single handedly”
“Him refusing to be wrong is what’s wrong with our justice system”
“This feels scripted, that’s how crazy it is”
“How are you going to be sworn in to testify?”
She had her first court date on the matter back in April and (obviously) plead not guilty, and was finally back in court yesterday for a trial on the ridiculous traffic ticket – which was ultimately dismissed at the request of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Seems like common sense finally prevailed, but it’s a little scary that the deputy refused to back down despite clearly being wrong about what he claimed to see.
Oh, and the kicker? In Florida, simply holding a phone in your hand while driving isn’t illegal. To be in violation, a driver has to be “manually typing or entering letters, numbers, or symbols into a wireless communications device while operating a vehicle for non-voice communication, such as texting, emailing, or instant messaging.” So even if she WERE holding a device in her non-existent right hand, she still wouldn’t have been breaking the law.
Glad to see she got out of that one. Gotta hand it to her for fighting the injustice.
