Man handcuffed in altercation after a Missouri school board meeting on masks
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COVID-19 safety in schools
For the new school year, as COVID-19 cases are surging and hospitals are turning away patients, Kansas City area districts are making decisions about safety.
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The Cass County Sheriff’s Office cited three people late Tuesday after an altercation broke out following a Pleasant Hill school board meeting where officials approved a mask mandate.
One man was handcuffed by a sheriff’s deputy after he confronted a woman who used her cell phone to video record a group of parents who had gathered outside the Pleasant Hill High School auditorium, said Maj. Kevin Tieman, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
“There was an altercation between a couple of people out front of the school with a lady saying that she’d been harassed or assaulted by somebody else,” Tieman said. “She said they took her cell phone away from her.”
The school board voted unanimously to require masks in its schools. Before the vote, a tense debate occurred between supporters of the mask requirement and those who opposed it, KMBC-TV reported.
No injuries were reported and no one was taken into custody. The man, along with two other persons who received tickets, were released at the scene. The school requested security for the meeting. Additional deputies were called to the school when the incident occurred.
“This was all out front of the building, after the meeting. So nothing happened inside during the meeting that I’m aware of,” he said.
The sheriff’s office provided The Star a link to the video of the altercation. The video was later removed by the YouTube user.
In the video, a woman is heard saying: “I am going to record as we walk out because frankly, the people on the other side have been incredibly and very rude.”
The man confronted the woman and said: “Excuse me, did anyone give you permission to do that?
She responded: Give me back my phone. Hey call the cops, 911. Call the cops right now, he harassed me. I want the sheriff here now. This person just harassed me and it’s all on video. I want a sheriff here now.”
Several others approached and yelled at the woman. A deputy arrived and handcuffed the man who confronted the woman.
The incident remained under investigation on Wednesday, Tieman said.
The school board approved a mask mandate after reporting 28 positive COVID-19 cases and 180 quarantines, which is more than 7% of the district’s population.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 11:28 AM.
