Make them wear a mask? These people are so defiant, they are cursing at Key West cops
Here’s what happened to a Key West police officer when she tried to talk a man into wearing his face mask in public:
“You obviously have a lot of f---ing time on your hands,” police say Mark Selleck, 55, of Deerfield Beach, told Officer Joelle Deese on a rainy night last week.
“I guarantee you I am going to get you f---ing fired by Tuesday.”
The officer was enforcing a new city law that orders people over 6 to wear masks in public — whether or not they can social distance — that’s meant to stop the spread of COVID-19 on the island.
Selleck didn’t stop there, according to the report detailing his arrest on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and violating the mask ordinance — all misdemeanors.
He caused a scene on Duval Street as a crowd formed. He walked in circles, trying to prevent officers from taking him into custody, charged at Deese twice, she reported, and kept shouting that he’d done nothing wrong.
“Nothing!” Selleck screamed in Deese’s face, she wrote.
Before he was put in handcuffs, Selleck yelled at a second officer, Raymond Roscoe. He reportedly called Deese a “f---ing bitch,” as he arrived at the Stock Island Detention Center in a squad car, according to a report.
Selleck was released the next day without having to post a bond.
In Key West, the law requires people to wear masks in public — including outside, with a few exceptions such as people with chronic medical conditions and brides and grooms during their wedding ceremony and photo-taking. That means wearing one while at the gym or outdoors while running, biking or walking your dog. There are no exceptions for exercise.
Key West’s law is as strict as the one in Miami-Dade, the epicenter for the novel coronavirus pandemic in South Florida.
One code compliance officer quit this month over having to enforce the law.
“He said he didn’t sign up for this, dealing with COVID and being harassed,” said Code Compliance Director Jim Young.
Key West’s law on masks is tougher than Monroe County’s mask ordinance, which requires people to wear a mask indoors and also outside unless they can keep six feet away from others
The Key West ordinance has already drawn one lawsuit in county court by a local business owner who says it is unconstitutional. And in an order signed Monday, a Palm Beach County judge ruled on a lawsuit against that county’s mask mandate, saying he finds that “no constitutional right is infringed,” the Palm Beach Post reported.
COVID-19 cases rising in the Keys
On Tuesday, the Keys had 1,145 confirmed cases and six deaths, or about 1.5% of Monroe’s population. On May 31, the day before the Keys took down their checkpoints at the top of the island chain meant to keep out tourists, the case number was 108.
Key West has 497 of those 1,145 cases, the most in the county by far. Key Largo was next in line with 170.
But Key West’s strict mask law isn’t a cure-all so far.
People just aren’t wearing them even in crowded spots like Duval Street, said Mayor Teri Johnston.
Key West will have “common sense enforcement,” Johnston said, in a Facebook video statement.
That means that if you’re walking on Higgs Beach by yourself with your mask around your neck, you’re probably not going to be cited, the mayor said.
But, she added, if you’re on Duval Street walking “shoulder to shoulder” with others without a mask and you’ve been asked “three times” to put it on, you’re likely to receive a citation.
“And you deserve one because you’re really acting irresponsible,” Johnston said.
Johnston said COVID-19 is spreading through the community — at parties and family dinners — because people let their guard down at these gatherings and the masks come off.
The Key West Police Department has issued 52 mask citations as of Monday, said spokeswoman Alyson Crean.
“It is policy — and part of the city’s ordinance — to issue a verbal warning before issuing a citation,” she said.
But police are ready to arrest people who refuse to wear a mask “after being sufficiently warned,” Crean said.
When Officer Deese first spotted Selleck, leaning against 203 Duval St. at 7:20 p.m. July 23, she gave him a free mask and explained the new city ordinance that requires people to wear masks in public without an exception for social distancing — like the county’s law.
She then warned him he would receive a $250 citation if she saw him again refusing to wear it, her report states.
Deese saw him again.
It’s the type of policing Florida Keys leaders are promoting — warning a person at least once before writing a civil citation, a code violation or handing out a notice to appear in court.
Jail is a last resort.
“People need to wear their masks,” Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers said in a Facebook Live session. “I don’t know why they aren’t getting the message.”
Carruthers compared the mask debate to prior issues people had with wearing seat belts, bicycle helmets and even condoms.
This time, it’s face coverings in a time of a pandemic.
“It’s a simple inconvenience,” Carruthers said. “It’s not an infringement of your rights. I don’t think you have the right to get me sick.”
Code officers find resistance to masks downtown
Young, the Key West code compliance director, and one of his code officers were chest-bumped July 3 by a Key West man, 26-year-old Joshua Gomez, after he refused to wear a mask at a Thai place on Greene Street, according to police reports.
Like Selleck, Gomez also gave passersby a scene as he yelled “I don’t give a f---” at code officers before police said he charged at them.
Gomez was jailed on two counts of battery on a code enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
In a video taken by a passerby and posted on Facebook, Gomez stands inches away from a code officer — who is wearing a face covering — as he screams profanities and tells them not to touch him.
“I didn’t break the f---ing law!” Gomez shouts and he denies touching anyone.
But the video was shot after Gomez assaulted her and Young, said Rachel Kobylas, a code compliance officer.
“The directives are very simple to follow,” Kobylas wrote in a Facebook comment beneath the posted video. “This individual chose not to and when asked to present his identification, he immediately got very combative.”
Kobylas added, “Who in the world wants to go to work and get beat up on and called a bunch of racial slurs?”
As of July 21, code alone has written 38 mask violations, Young said.
“Ninety percent of people we encounter are wearing a mask, around their neck or carrying it,” Young said. “It’s not like they don’t have them. We’ve also been handing them out to people who don’t have them.”
Young says it’s a “few individuals” who are being seriously defiant about masks.
One man on Facebook posted that he would send anyone a photo of Young.
“It’s getting very personal,” said Young, who replied that he wanted one.
The man then posted a photo of a clown.
“I just posted lmao,” Young said.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
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