Mask ban in Nassau County: Teenager arrested with knife is first violation of new law

LONG ISLAND – Nassau County police made the first arrest under a new local law banning face masks – a teenager who was found with a 14-inch knife, officials said Tuesday.

According to police, officers responded to reports of a suspicious person on a street near the Levittown-Hicksville city line Sunday evening, where they found Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo wearing black clothing and a black ski mask that covered his face except for his eyes.

The 18-year-old resident also exhibited other suspicious behavior, including attempting to hide a large bulge in his waistband and refusing to comply with officers’ orders, police said. The bulge turned out to be a 14-inch-long knife, officers said.

14 inch knife. (Nassau County Police)

Ramirez Castillo was arrested without further incident, police said. He was arraigned Monday in Westbury Family Court on charges of illegal possession of a firearm and obstruction of public order, according to the office of Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo. (Nassau County Police)

Lt. Scott Skrynecki, a police department spokesman, said Ramirez Castillo will also face charges of mask violation in the coming days.

What happens if you wear a mask in public?

By law, wearing a face covering to conceal one’s identity in public in Nassau is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Exempted are people who wear a mask “for health, safety, religious or cultural reasons or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event where masks or face coverings are customarily worn.”

The county’s Republican-controlled legislature passed the Mask Transparency Act in response to “anti-Semitic incidents, often involving mask-wearing” since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.

“The passage of this law gives the police another tool”

Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who signed the mask ban into law earlier this month, saying the arrest shows the rule is working.

“Our officers were able to use the mask ban and other factors to stop and question an individual who was carrying a weapon and attempting to commit a robbery,” he said in an emailed statement. “The passage of this bill gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal.”

Keith Ross, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said police did not necessarily need the new law to stop and question Ramirez Castillo, but it strengthened their justification.

“The law gives the police at least reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop,” the retired New York police officer explained by phone. “With reasonable suspicion, police in New York State can forcibly stop a person if they are suspected of committing a crime or criminal offense, and that is the scope of this new law.”

But Scott Banks, chief counsel for the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, which represents Ramirez Castillo, disputed that notion.

“There is no reason to believe that wearing a face mask was intended to conceal identity or criminal behavior, and if that was the reason for the stop, I believe there is reason to conclude that the stop was unlawful,” he wrote in an email.

Skrynecki declined to comment, adding that police and county officials would discuss the incident at a press conference on Wednesday.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which criticizes the new law, reiterated its warning that the mask ban was “ripe for selective enforcement by a police department with a history of aggression and discrimination.”

Federal lawsuit against mask ban

Disability Rights of New York, a group that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, filed a lawsuit last week arguing that the mask requirement is unconstitutional and discriminates against people with disabilities.

The class action lawsuit in federal court seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to immediately stop enforcement of the ban.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.