Mother tased for not wearing a face mask at son’s football game

‘You’re not arresting me for nothing, I ain’t doing nothing wrong’

Justin Vallejo
New York
Thursday 24 September 2020 18:36 BST
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A woman watching her son's eighth-grade football game was tased and arrested for not wearing a mask while sitting in the stands with family.

The Ohio mother identified as Alecia Kitts by The Marietta Times, which was first to report the video of the incident circulating online, can be heard in video footage asking the officer "what the f**k is wrong with you?"

“You’re not arresting me for nothing, I ain’t doing nothing wrong,” she yells during the struggle with police.

Ms Kitts can be seen in the video screaming and falling to the ground after the police officer strikes her in the back with the taser.

"Tasing this lady over not wearing a damn mask", a shocked witness can be heard saying.

Ms Kitt's mother, who was also watching the game, can be heard saying "it's just a mask" before police restrained the woman and walked her away into custody.

Skylar Steward, who also shared the video online and identified Ms Kitts as the mother of his son, said he would file a complaint against Logan Police Department.

“The police officer attempted to detain her, she resisted … she wasn’t hurting anybody, fill Logan with protestors,” he said, according to the Times.

Logan Police Department confirmed that the incident was under investigation.

While Ms Kitts did not respond to a request for comment, the woman who originally shared the video on Facebook called it "police brutality at its finest".

"Here u can also see very clearly that NEITHER of these cops even had a mask on, (or it was pulled down, serving absolutely no purpose, in the male officers case) yet they’re arresting this girl for not wearing a mask," Tiffany Kennedy wrote with the video post on Facebook.

The officer appeared to be wearing a mask before it fell during the arrest, which took place during a Marietta City Schools football game on Wednesday. Ms Kitts, meanwhile, appeared to have a mask in her back pocket while she was being detained.

Marietta athletic director Cody Venderlic and Logan athletic director Theresa Schultheiss confirmed it was the only incident of mask non-compliance among the 300 people watching the game.

“This rule has been in effect since we were told we could play,” Ms Schultheiss told the Times. “Everyone that came through ticketing tonight was reminded, we had regular announcements over the PA reminding you that mouths and noses needed to be covered and we had signs at the bathrooms.”

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