She was stopped by a policeman on charges of driving a car with a cell phone in her right hand, but despite the obvious absence of the limb, the officer did not want to listen to reason and fined the driver. A surreal scene that took place in Florida, in the United States, in the town of Lake Worth. The unfortunate protagonist of the story is Kathleen Thomas, a 36-year-old athlete suffering from a congenital disability. Having been born without her right forearm, the woman initially thought it was a joke, so much so that she burst out laughing, but she soon realized that it was not a joke in bad taste.
Kathleen’s story
As the images recorded by the officer’s dashcam show, the 36-year-old tried to show her arm to the policeman, thinking of a misunderstanding: “At first I thought: it will be funny – Kathleen explained to CBS -. That’s why I laughed. I laughed out loud. But he didn’t laugh and didn’t interact in a friendly way, at that moment I understood that it wasn’t a joke”.
The viral video
In the video, which has gone viral in recent days, the policeman also asks the 36-year-old to raise her right arm to swear: “I obeyed – he added – but it didn’t seem like a sufficient hand to him, since he then asked me to raise my left hand. Looking back at the scene later, after having viewed the body camera footage over the weekend, I immediately realized that I felt very uncomfortable”. After obtaining footage from the officer’s body-worn camera, Thomas shared the clip on social media, with the images quickly racking up millions of views across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Fine cancelled
The woman planned to go to court to contest the fine, but last Monday it was the same officer who had issued it who asked for it to be cancelled. “He realized that maybe it wasn’t a great idea,” the woman commented. “Maybe he didn’t handle the situation the right way. Obviously he chose not to proceed and I’m grateful for that.” The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to CBS News that the ticket was canceled after a “review of the totality of the circumstances.”
“I was born this way”
Although the case was closed, Thomas wanted to tell her story to the media with the hope that it will help avoid similar cases in the future: “I was born this way. It will never change. She will never be able to hold a phone. I would like people to understand that someone who looks different is normal too. If I could meet that officer again I would ask him why he reacted that way. I really hope he takes the time to reflect on what is appropriate and what is not.”