A Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy who gained viral infamy for accusing a one-handed woman of texting and driving is fielding criticism from his colleagues, too.
According to agency records, a PBSO commander lodged a complaint against the 35-year-old deputy sheriff Yosvani Quesada in July; not for haranguing the woman or embarrassing the office, but for having "misunderstood the legal elements" needed to establish that a person is texting and driving.
In Kathleen Thomas' case, the foremost missing element was her hand.
Quesada, who did not return a request for comment, pulled over the Lake Worth Beach athlete in February after seeing what he believed was a cell in her right hand. With his body camera recording, he approached Thomas' car and explained
through an open window why he'd stopped her. Thomas raised her arm, which ends at the elbow, and laughed.
"You want to just call this a day?" she asked, the words memorialized in a video viewed by millions.
Quesada appeared confused, then repeated the charge. Thomas "had a hand up, manipulating the phone," he said, unswayed by the limb she continued to hold aloft. He asked her to swear — "hand to God," then "other hand to God" — that she wasn't texting and driving.
Thomas swore. Quesada asked for her driver's license and wrote her a $116 citation anyway.
Thomas requested the body-camera footage and shared it to TikTok, where it quickly spread. Quesada, by then a subject of ridicule online, walked back the accusation in May. A judge agreed to toss the case on account of "insufficient evidence," prompting a celebratory post to Thomas' TikTok.
Quesada's commander filed a formal complaint against the deputy on July 1, pointing to "job knowledge and skills" as the offending conduct. A sergeant investigated for a week before agreeing with the commander.
Though some on TikTok called for his firing or suspension, Quesada earned a verbal reprimand instead.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: PBSO deputy reprimanded for viral one-armed traffic stop. What to know
