close
close

topicnews · August 29, 2024

Police in New York County make first arrest

Police in New York County make first arrest

An 18-year-old was arrested after officers responded to reports that a “man was wearing a mask to conceal his identity,” Nassau County police said.

play

Over the weekend, a teenager was arrested and charged in the New York suburb of Nassau County for wearing a face covering in public to conceal his identity, the first arrest under the county’s new law banning face masks.

Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo, 18, of Hicksville, was arrested Sunday after officers responded to “reports of a suspicious male wearing a mask to conceal his identity,” the Nassau County Police Department said in a news release Wednesday. Police said the incident occurred just before 8 p.m. in Levittown, a hamlet in Nassau County.

“Upon further investigation, (Ramirez Castillo) continued to exhibit suspicious behavior while attempting to conceal a large bulge in his waistband, which turned out to be a 14-inch knife,” the Nassau County Police Department said. “The defendant, Ramirez Castillo, refused to comply with officers’ orders and was arrested without further incident.”

Ramirez Castillo was charged with illegal possession of a firearm, obstructing governmental conduct and violating the county’s mask ban, known as the Mask Transparency Act, according to police. He was arraigned Monday in First District Court in Hempstead.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder said Ramirez Castillo allegedly told police he was asked to wear a mask and given a knife to commit a robbery.

“This person in and of himself was not suspicious,” Ryder said at the press conference. “The fact that he was wearing that mask was the reason for the call, that’s why it was suspicious.”

Ramirez Castillo is the first person arrested and charged for wearing a face covering in public since the controversial mask ban was passed by the county’s Republican-dominated legislature earlier this month. The law criminalizes the wearing of face masks to conceal identity in public, except in cases for medical, religious or cultural reasons.

Masks are an important tool against COVID-19. Should they be banned because they are opponents of the war?

Mask ban is a “means of fighting crime,” says a district official

Nassau County lawmakers passed the Mask Transparency Act on August 5. All 12 Republicans in the legislature voted for it, with seven Democrats abstaining. The ban went into effect immediately after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed it on August 14.

Republican Rep. Mazi Melesa Pilip introduced the bill after concerns grew over alleged anti-Semitic incidents at protests across the country, including a wave of demonstrations on college campuses in response to the war between Israel and Hamas. The United States has also seen a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic incidents since the war began last year.

Local officials have said the mask ban is a public safety measure and that these are people committing crimes while wearing a mask to hide their identity.

“If we don’t give our police officers the tools they need to fight crime, someone with a knife like that could potentially kill someone,” Blakeman said at the press conference on Wednesday.

Anyone who violates the law is committing a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. The law allows police officers to require the removal of a mask during traffic stops or “when the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect criminal activity and/or intent to engage in criminal activity.”

Mask ban challenged in Federal Court

Civil rights activists and state officials have criticized the ban, saying the law violates freedom of speech and endangers the safety of protesters and the health of local communities.

“The Nassau County mask ban is a dangerous abuse of the law to score political points and target protesters,” Susan Gottehrer, regional director for Nassau County for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement earlier this month. “Denying people who speak out from protections for themselves and their identities puts their health and well-being at risk, especially people with disabilities, people of color, and people with unpopular views.”

The ban has also been challenged in federal court, with a lawsuit filed last week by the advocacy group Disability Rights New York seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of the mask ban.

Disability Rights New York said the ban discriminates against people with disabilities and violates the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. “This mask ban poses a direct threat to public health and discriminates against people with disabilities,” Timothy Clune, executive director of Disability Rights New York, said in a statement.

Contributor: Alexandra Rivera, Rockland/Westchester Journal News

You may also like...