@KaivanShroff/Twitter, CBS4 Miami
August 26, 2021, 7:52 am
A Florida anti-masker was arrested after engaging in a physical altercation with a teenager outside of a high school.
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Dan Bauman had spent days arguing with officials at Fort Lauderdale High School over the district’s mask mandate, insisting his daughter did not have to wear a mask in order to attend school.
He was filming his conflict with multiple adults when a student tried to exit the school grounds and told Bauman off on the way. “I’ve had enough for four days,” she said, moving to push his phone out of her face.
In response, Bauman pushed her shoulder, grabbed her hand, and twisted her arm to push her against the gate, according to the police report.
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The response from the adults and officers present was immediate, as they grabbed Bauman, pulled him away from the girl, and restrained him.
Bauman was arrested on the scene and charged with aggravated child abuse. According to The Washington Post, Bauman has had the police called on him multiple times for mask-related incidents prior to this.
And a video from the previous day showed Bauman involved in a confrontation with school administrators at the high school because he didn’t want his daughter to have to wear a mask.
In the video, which was recorded by Bauman, he demands to know how they will prevent his daughter from walking into school maskless, immediately assuming the only way they could, would be to “put hands on her.”
The staff member tells him that they will just have a conversation with her and tell her she can’t come into school without a mask. In response, Bauman called the school’s mask mandate “illegal” and made an extreme comparison by pointing out “Nazis also said we’re just following orders.”
He also said that things would escalate, the school would have to “forcibly remove” his daughter, and that it would make the news.
Despite Bauman and his daughter’s personal distaste for COVID safety measures, FLHS principal Sean Curran has said that the other students are handling the mask mandate very well.
“Every single one of them is wearing it and are supportive of what the measures are to keep everyone safe,” he told CBSMiami.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order earlier this summer essentially forbidding schools from passing mask mandates, and has threatened to withhold funding from districts that require masks anyway or remove school board members who vote for mask mandates.
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However, a number of districts have passed mask mandates all the same, with an estimated half of students attending Florida public schools doing so with a mandate in place.
*First Published: August 26, 2021, 7:52 am
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