05/28/2026
This Florida deputy pulled over an adaptive athlete for holding her phone in her right hand. She doesn't have one. Instead of apologizing, he doubled down, wrote the $116 ticket, and even asked her to swear "hand to God."
The ticket was eventually dismissed but here's what most people don't know: a dismissed ticket doesn't mean you can't still take legal action. Section 1983 is a federal civil rights law that lets you sue government officials who violate your constitutional rights while acting under color of law. If a cop writes you a bogus citation, detains you without cause, or escalates a stop that never should have happened, you may have a case worth way more than the ticket itself.