After Traffic Stop for Phone in Right Hand, She Called Out the Problem
But before [the deputy] could get very far with his explanation, Ms. Thomas held up her right arm. There was no phone in it. There had never been a phone in it because she has no right hand.
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Video of the stop is here: https://youtu.be/47Em_6kCLqI
The reveal is quite hilarious but the cop doubling down is just cringe.
He just didn't want to admit he was wrong. Fucking ACAB. Goddamn pigs all of them.
He could've had a little fun that day and laughed with her and it would've been so freaking wholesome. Probably gone viral for that reason instead of due to embarrassment.
I mean, he was following his script. This situation definitely called for some independent thought, but in an unusual situation, he instead just barreled through and stuck to his script...
I'd say there's definitely more incompetence than malice going on here.
(And to be clear, I'm not saying this is ok.) Incompetence is a huge problem when it's in a place of ultimate authority, and it carries deadly weapons with the authority to use them. That is absolutely not a position where incompetence should be tolerated in any society.
But I do want to push back a bit in the tone you were setting, "acab, goddamn pigs, all of them"; that's strong, and again, I don't think this case was malicious, just dumb. Somewhat fittingly, I would call it pig-headed.
Weaponized incompetence is malice. They are about power, and it’s a huge display of power to put morons who cannot think for themselves in positions of authority. They know that these people are useful idiots, and they know how much it demoralizes the rest of us.
ACAB isn’t just a slogan, it’s a strategy.
Incompetence isn't an excuse to be shit person and a worse cop. You convinced me that acab, goddamn pigs, all of them
And you'll notice that I never said it was an excuse. I mean with your first sentence you're practically quoting my words, except you took the opposite conclusion.
Edit: Lol, lots of downvotes. Well fuck honesty I guess. Apparently not what people want to hear.
Couldn't think of what else to say, guy was obviously stumped.
He just didn't want to hand it to her
Why does he keep holding his finger in front of the camera? Is it standard procedure for cops to block their body cams in case they want to do crimes?
Bro he didn't just double down, he literally asked her to say "hand to God" to promise him that she didn't have a phone in her hand.
Like first of all, you're a cop, imagine you pull a suspect over and you say "I'm suspecting you of this crime. Did you do it?" "No." "Hand to God?" "Hand to God." "Alright go on you rascal, have a good day now."
Second of all, you do not say "Hand to God?" to a person with one fucking hand. Oh my god. 🫣
Wondering if it's staged or AI or something.
I'm retrospect, we can calmly reflect on the situation and imagine how we'd respond. But in an impromptu "this is happening right now, and I didn't even fully process that she's lacking a hand or that I made a mistake" situation, his silly behavior doesn't seem implausible at all.
Of course it doesn't seem implausible that a cop would act this way. But any normal person who would accuse someone of something and be met with this kind of conclusive evidence prima facie would probably not do this.
In the heat of the moment.
Really giving that "boys will be boys" energy, are we? There's no "heat" here, what are you even talking about? As a cop, surely they've seen more "heat" than this. Armless lady bringing the heat, rofl
I'm not justifying their stupid action, just saying that it doesn't necessarily look scripted to me, because "nobody would act that way"
Then I completely misunderstood everything you said, apologies. 🤔
Anyway, they really could've had a wholesome time here but just ruined it with pride.
WHAT AN ASSHOLE!
Curiosity, could you not see the video in the article? It was right at the top for me (Though NYT does that annoying inverse in dark mode thing)
I had heard about this before this article. This is one of those times I wish it was possible to be inside someone else's head and observe their thoughts and feelings in a moment. I think it would be really fascinating to be inside the officer's head during this interaction. If it was me, I would have turned and walked away without saying another word and hope that no one ever heard about it.
I always wondered how these guys make it through life.
I understand its a position of authority and an air of confidence is necessary at all times, but gods damned dude
"You had a phone in your right hand"
shows a complete lack of a right hand
"...You sure you don't have a hand?"
As someone who won't read the article, as I don't feel like dealing with NY Times website bullshit, is that how it went down? Or is that satire?
Pretty much exactly like that. The look of confusion on her face when he doubled down was palpable. Like she's heard of stupid people. She knows they exist, but to encounter this level of stupidity face to face was jarring.
He switched to claiming it was her left hand, but she didn't let him get away with that, since he was 100% confident before, and just kept checking as if he didn't switch.
Of course, right and left hands are in different places, so the thought of her using her left hand to be on her phone on her right side while simultaneously driving with no hands at all is ridiculous.
[email protected] also posted a video of the stop, found here, if that works for you.
Someone posted a link to the bodycam footage and that is how it went down. He even gave her a ticket for it.
I mean, that cop is crooked to start with. So he's probably thinking, "Oh shit. My go-to excuse for harassing people failed. It's embarrassing if I get exposed here, so how can I make this her fault?"
Makes you wonder how many other tickets in this "safety campaign" were fraudulent. My area has done these targeted enforcement days. They spend 8 hours writing tickets, then pat themselves on the back and plan to do the same thing next year. Meanwhile, the average driver is still doing 60km/h on a residential street. But at least they caught those pesky people using the shoulder at an intersection that wasn't designed for modern demand.
Realistically a lot. Especially for drivers with dark skin.
Automated enforcement gets actual violations if done right. But it tickets the white and rich a lot more, so there is huge pushback
I got pulled over in a drunk driving operation while leaving a rural bar. The original reason they gave when pulling me over was lane violation, which I assume means going over the lines?
I was sober, there to check out a local band, then left when it was over. I’m also a very good driver, no accidents, no tickets for moving violations, nor parking violations, in 20 years of driving.
Well, I had a dash cam, but it was hidden from rear view by fuzzy dice. When he got my info and saw that, he realized his pretense for pulling me over in the first place would be challenged (he couldn’t lie about why because they record audio), and entrapment is illegal here, so he didn't even give me time to dig out my insurance card, and he had to let me off with warnings.
Which is amazing because I didn’t realize, because I hadn’t driven much in the past couple years, that my registration was over a year expired. Oops.
If he hadn't been a lying shitbag, or I hadn't had a dashcam that would clearly show I didn't do what he pulled me over for, that traffic stop wouldn’t have been a waste of time for him and I’d be out some money.
ACAB.
Also, invest in a dash cam, everyone! They are cheap and can save your ass! Everyone should have one because ACAB!
I have a dashcam. I recommend it as well. It's made me a more careful driver that road rages less because I know it's all on camera. Sometimes I wonder if I need a decoy camera though in the event of burglary and, perhaps, if I'm removed from my vehicle by police. I hate this paranoia
Why are so many people incapable of admitting that they made a mistake and handling it gracefully? Is this something we can add to the school curriculum as a skill or something?
The way our police system is structured is horrendously broken and encourages this kind of things in its officers, which can only be addressed with a complete overhaul of our approach to public safety, but even with that aside, can we please as a population put more emphasis on being able to handle making mistakes without doubling down?
Good thing they didn't go to court, she'd probably get tossed into jail for contempt once they try to swear her in.
That reminds me of a George Carlin bit where he's talking about swearing on the bible in court.
He's like "What if you use the left hand on the bible, and your right hand in your pocket? What if the bible were upside down? Does god care about our ritualistic exercises? Maybe that's good enough for god? Or will the court clerk say Sorry, wrong hand, try again? Suppose you don't have a right hand? Do you swear on the stump at the end of your arm? Or do you use the prostetic? Certainly if your real left hand wasn't good enough, then surely a wooden right hand would fail the test, right?
And he goes on and on in a way that I don't feel like typing out. Plus text doesn't do it justice. It's on youtube. Just search for George Carlin. And if the one you end up watching isn't that bit, that's fine too. All the George Carlin bits are good. Just make an evening out of it. Just watch George Carlin all night long. I promise you he does not give a shit that you're watching for free. He has a whole bit about shit he doesn't care about after he's dead. I won't spoil it. You have a fun evening ahead of you.
You know what, I think I will go watch some George Carlin. Thank you for the suggestion kind stranger
A lot of what he said was either straight up truth that people found funny, or things people thought were impossible that came to reality.
"It's a big club, and you ain't in it." 21 years ago
Cops should be penalized for citations and arrests that are thrown out or dismissed.
Make it mean something to them for when they get it wrong.
There is technically a process to do this, but it takes significant time and resources. Additionally it's likely you will experience retaliation during the process.
Chances are the issue lies at the top of the leadership structure
That'll just encourage them to lie and double down even more.
Sometimes people make mistakes. It's what they do afterwards that matters. That's even true for cops.
Except when most people make mistakes it doesn't destroy someone's lives. Cops need to be helpt at a higher standard. They wield too much power.
It should be structured so that they have to think harder about whether to wield that power in the first place.
Right now, they just get to arrest someone. Costing them potentially thousands of dollars, their job, their relationships, their car, or even their life. Cops shouldn't just be able to do that much harm and then just shrug their shoulders and say "oops." And that harm happens even if the case is dismissed.
Rule #1 for cops - you are never wrong.
What an asshole.
Reminds me when a PCSO (UK police community support officer) knocked on my window and told me off for driving while on my phone. I was literally just scratching my ear. Also, I had managed to forget my phone at home when having to visit a clients office and didn't have time to go back and get it - I was in the car grabbing a quick lunch. I was already annoyed with myself anyway so was livid after that. Told them you shouldn't go around accusing people of things unless you can actually see it. They just doubled down and walked off without apologising or anything.
US, I almost got a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt because when I saw the cop I mindlessly checked to see if I was wearing it. After that I do that check without moving my hand. Cops are the worst.
She hoped the officer would reflect on it.....
And learn from it.....
Yeah..... Those aren't traits officers have
He looks increasingly stupid as he refuses to admit he was wrong and pushes to justify himself. ACAB.
or something they WILL HIRE FOR.
🤮
I had a cop pull me over for phone in hand. But I was driving manual and my arm was out the window. After a few minutes of arguing I said he should just write a ticket and I’ll bring my phone records to court.
He told me to wait and then left.
Ngl, I've let go of the wheel because my window arm was comfortable. Maybe bring up a knee just in case. "get your teen a manual because they can't do anything else with their hands!"
Bet.
Truth. I drove with my knees so much when I had a manual transmission.
So in other words, after being confronted about his obvious mistake, he still went on to take her to court over it?
US in a nutshell
I saw the bodycam footage of this. The cop says "I saw you holding a phone in your right hand." She holds the arm up, showing the stump, smiles and says, "you wanna just call it?" And he just digs deeper; "no I don't want to call it, I saw you doing uhm..." blablabla excuses excuses citation.
Fucking ego on cops. Could've just said, "hah, clearly my mistake" I stead of power tripping and ending up all over the internet. Although bet it won't affect his police career any.
I think once they make a citation, they can't just instantly undo, because that could be a sign of bribing your way out of a ticket, so the next opportunity to reverse course on that is at court.
Can any cops or lawyers confirm? I'm definitely not an expert.
God still has her hand... never let her have it even.
🐷🐷🐷
You could say she was right 'armless
Hi dad, it's me, also dad. 🤝
Storytime. This happened to my father when he was a cop in the 70s in Toronto. He pulled over two guys because they didn't have their seat belts on. They both were missing an arm.
He sent them on their way.
What does missing an arm have to do with not wearing the seatbelt?
Good question. In the 70s seatbelts weren't standardized yet. They weren't all like the simple click ones we have today.
You would be correct, modern ones you can connect one handed.
That only requires one hand.
Source: was driving back then, used a seat belt and had a broken arm.
Yea I don't get it either. I don't use two arms to put on a seatbelt..
You can put on a belt with one arm. Apparently the law came in in 1976 though which is surprising
"Yeah, officer, you wanna walk me through that one more time?"
This just goes to show that tickets should not be used as a revenue source
How are you allowed to drive if you have just one hand? Don't you need both hands to steer properly? Or does she have a special steering wheel like in formula cars that rotate just 90 degrees in each direction, so that you never need to switch hands?
I don't know how she did it, but the solution I've seen was to attach a spinner knob to the wheel. Cheap and easy to do. And gives mobility to somebody who otherwise wouldn't have it
Right, that's a good point
It's perfectly possible to drive 1 handed without any special setup. I do it regularly. You just need an automatic (non manual) shift.
Clutch knee to steering wheel. You just can't steer and shift at the same time. At least not until you figure out clurchless shifting
"suicide knob" is a classic device I've seen before. They were popular in the 60s or so. Named as such because they had a knack for snapping off. It's still in use for people with various disabilities. However, it's not especially hard to steer with one hand. I probably went 4 years after the driving test using only one hand with a palm spin. But then I got a car with a slightly slicker, heavier steering wheel and it didn't work so well.
It’s possible to drive without legs. It’s easy to drive with one hand. I’d wager it could be done with more skill than many drivers exhibit with only one limb.
My husband has cerebral palsy and so one working hand to steer with. As others have said, he used the 'suicide knob' to drive, except it was like. Installed professionally and he legally had to have it installed to drive. I'm unsure if there's other ways, but that's how it was done here.
Do you drive? I basically use only my left hand while driving. And my car is an automatic EV, so I don't have to shift. Also I'm right handed.
I dunno. It's just comfortable. It might be a remnant from when I used to drive manual shift, when I had to shift gears often, driving in the city. You definitely don't need two hands to steer, though. And her stump could definitely do shifting no problem.
I had a good friend who's dad had no arms, and he had his driver's license and was an excellent driver