Police in the New York City suburbs made the first arrest under new local legislation prohibiting face masks, authorities said Tuesday.
On Sunday night, Nassau County Police officers responded to complaints of a suspicious figure on a street along the Levittown and Hicksville town lines, roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Manhattan.
New York first face mask arrest
They discovered Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo in black attire and a black ski mask that covered his face save for his eyes.
According to the agency, the 18-year-old resident also demonstrated suspicious conduct, such as trying to hide a huge bulge in his waistband and refusing to obey officers’ directions.
“NY 1st Face Mask Arrest under new face mask law, catching 18-year-old Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo with a 14-inch knife.”
According to officers, the bulge was really a 14-inch knife. Ramirez Castillo was arrested without incident, authorities said.
He was arrested Monday in Westbury Family Court on misdemeanor counts of criminal possession of a firearm and hindering governmental administration, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s office.
Lt. Scott Skrynecki, a police department spokeswoman, said Ramirez Castillo will be charged with a misdemeanor violation of the face mask ordinance in the coming days.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who signed the mask ban into law earlier this month, said Sunday’s arrest demonstrated the rule’s effectiveness.
“Our police officers were able to use the mask ban legislation as well as other factors to stop and interrogate an individual who was carrying a weapon with the intent to engage in a robbery,” according to an emailed statement. “Passing this law gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal.”
According to Keith Ross, a criminal justice professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, the new rule did not require police to stop and interview Ramirez Castillo, but it did serve to strengthen their argument.
“The law gives police, at the very least, reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop,” the former New York City police officer noted over the phone. “Under reasonable suspicion, police can forcibly stop a person in New York state if they are suspected of committing a felony or a penal law misdemeanor, which is where this new law falls.”
However, Scott Banks, attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, which represents Ramirez Castillo, questioned that view.
“There is no basis to believe that wearing a face mask was intended to conceal identity or criminal behavior, and if that was the basis of the stop I believe there is a basis to conclude the stop was unlawful,” according to an email he sent.
Skrynecki refused to comment, saying that police and county authorities will address the event during a press conference on Wednesday.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the new rule, reiterated its concern that the mask ban is “ripe for selective enforcement by a police department with a history of aggression and discrimination.”
Disability Rights of New York, an advocacy organization for persons with disabilities, filed a court challenge last week, claiming that the mask rule is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
The federal class action complaint seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to halt the ban’s implementation.
The county’s Republican-controlled legislature passed the Mask Transparency Act in reaction to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks” since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7.
Wearing a facial covering in public to conceal one’s identity is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine in Nassau. It allows mask-wearing individuals to participate “for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”