This frame grab from police body cam video shows Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy Donald Hess gesturing to driver Antonio Sims Jr., 25, of Tampa during a traffic stop along Interstate 4 on Nov. 18, 2020. Hess ticketed Sims $113 for violating Florida's new texting-while-driving law, which is rarely enforced statewide.
A Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy was heading east on Interstate 4 in his red Dodge Charger on a brilliantly sunny afternoon in Florida when he saw him: A young driver behind the wheel of a Jeep texting on his phone.
The deputy, Donald Hess, didn't hit his lights and siren right away. He watched over more than a mile while he pulled around both sides of the Jeep, he said, as the driver kept texting before he pulled him over on the I-4 shoulder. When the driver rolled down his window, the deputy waved away a cloud of smoke.