First Teenager Arrested Under New York County’s Controversial Mask Ban

It wasn’t too long ago that covering your mouth with a mask was mandatory. In Nassau County, New York, however, a new local law has banned facemasks—no, not the N-95 ones. 

Called the “Mask Transparency Act,” the ban on face coverings was supposedly enacted due to “antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks.” Now, hiding your identity with a face covering is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. There are exceptions for religious and health reasons.

Now, someone was arrested over it.

It started with a report of a suspicious person wandering around Long Island. Police arrived to find 18-year-old Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo wearing a black ski mask. When confronting him, they discovered a 14-inch knife, according to the Associated Press.

Castillo was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a weapon and obstructing governmental administration after refusing to follow the officers’ orders—as well as the face mask violation. 

According to Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive, the first case to fall under this new rule actually shows the purpose behind it. “Passing this law gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal,” he said. 

Scott Banks, the lawyer representing Castillo, questioned whether cops could use a mask as an excuse to harass anyone they want. “There is no basis to believe that wearing a face mask was intended to conceal identity or criminal behavior,” he wrote in an email. “And if that was the basis of the stop, I believe there is a basis to conclude the stop was unlawful.”

Critics say it’s a callback to stop and frisk policies of New York in the 2000s and will disproportionately affect different groups. They also question whether it’s respecting the health privacy of people with disabilities: Disability Rights New York filed a legal challenge earlier this month.

In this case, ultimately, what ended up happening was someone walking around with a huge knife who then didn’t cooperate with officers and was taken into custody. Whether or not there was ill intention for the suspect remains to be seen. 

This surely won’t be the last time this New York mask ban pops up in the news—it was signed into law just two weeks ago.