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An anti-mask parent taking a video in front of a Florida high school was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed and pushed a student who reached for his phone and proclaimed she’d “had enough.”
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The parent, Dan Bauman, had been walking his 10th-grade daughter to Fort Lauderdale High School, which has turned her away multiple times over her refusal to wear a mask and comply with district policy, according to WFOR, a CBS affiliate in Miami. Bauman was allegedly recording the maskless girl’s attempt to enter the facility once again when a fellow student said, “I’ve had enough for four days,” according to NBC News. She then attempted to grab Bauman’s phone.
At that point, the 50-year-old allegedly grabbed the student’s hand, twisted it, and pushed her against a gate, according to the Washington Post. Video of the incident appears to show officers separating Bauman from the student.
Bauman was swiftly charged with child abuse and carted off to the Broward County Jail, according to the Washington Post. A bond amount was not listed for him in jail records, and it’s unclear at this time whether he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Though perhaps one of the more extreme incidents to date, the alleged scuffle wasn’t exactly isolated. Florida has become a hotbed of outrage over mask mandates and mandates against mask mandates, thanks to the bizarre politicization of public health guidance in that state and others. And the fact that the state has been absolutely pummeled by the coronavirus in recent weeks doesn’t seem to be changing that: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has held firm on his executive order that blocks schools from requiring masks, even though officials in some districts, like Broward County, are defying it in a move they argue will keep kids safe.
“First of all, it’s illegal for them to mandate it. It’s against the law, it’s against the Parents Bill of Rights,” Bauman told WFOR before he was arrested. “Our belief is it doesn’t stop the spread of the virus. It doesn’t control it, it does more harm than good.”
The interim principal at Fort Lauderdale High School, Sean Curran, told WFOR that his school is simply following district guidance by requiring masks but had otherwise met with Bauman’s family numerous times to lay out exceptions to the rule.
“Our kids are incredible,” Curran told WFOR. “Every single one of them is wearing [a mask] and are supportive of what the measures are to keep everyone safe.”
Apart from Bauman’s alleged antics, one Texas school district recently reported that a parent had ripped a mask off a teacher’s face, and another anti-mask parent in California allegedly attacked a teacher on the first day of school after they saw their daughter walk out of the facility wearing a mask.
