An Ohio woman was tased and arrested after she repeatedly refused to comply with school policy to wear a facemask while watching a middle school football game.
Alecia Kitts was sitting on the bleachers during her son’s football game in Logan, Ohio on Wednesday when she got into a confrontation with a school resource officer for not wearing a facemask.
After multiple requests, Logan Police Officer Chris Smith told her that she would be asked to leave if she did not put her mask on.
“The female continually refused his request and Officer Smith advised her that if she refused to leave, she would be cited for trespassing and escorted off the property,” said the Logan Police Department in a statement posted on Facebook.
“After several attempts to get her to leave, Officer Smith advised her she was under arrest for criminal trespassing and asked her to place her hands behind her back multiple times and she refused.”
The officer tried to place her hand behind her back, but Kitts resisted, telling the officer, “I ain’t doing nothing wrong!”
“Officer Smith advised her to comply or he would deploy his Taser if she did not quit resisting. She continued to resist, and Officer Smith placed his Taser on her shoulder area and drive stunned her once,” said the police.
Kitt’s attorney, Maurice A. Thompson, said that Kitt was “obviously alone with her children, outdoors, at a distance of much greater than six feet from anyone else.”
“Ms. Kitts explained to the policy officer and administrators that she has asthma, but they ignored her. Their position was that un-masked asthmatic must leave the stadium, with is not consistent with any directive or other law,” he added.
Marietta City Schools Superintendent Will Hampton defended that Kitts had violated the guidelines issued by the governor and the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
“It is critically important to understand that if we want to continue to enjoy athletics, these are the rules that we must follow. If spectators chose not to follow the orders of the governor and the OHSAA, we could lose the opportunity to participate in athletic competition for our student athletes, and our ability as spectators to cheer them on,” said Hampton via a statement.