Alicia Kitts was in the stands with her family watching her son’s football game when a police officer assigned to the school asked her to put a mask on.
Video of a mom being tased and hauled off in handcuffs at her son’s middle school football game in Ohio is sparking intense debate. Alicia Kitts was in the stands with her family watching her son’s football game when a police officer assigned to the school told her “several times that she needed to put her mask on,” according to police.
When she refused and allegedly wouldn’t leave, “she was advised she was under arrest for criminal trespassing,” police said.
As the officer attempted to handcuff her, she resisted, according to police. New video of the confrontation shows Kitts struggling with the officer as her mother tries to intervene. The officer then pulled out a taser and used it on the woman.
Spectator Tiffany Kennedy shot the video that is provoking debate about whether or not the woman was in the wrong.
“That was just the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, ever...as a result of not wearing a mask,” Kennedy told Inside Edition.
Skylar Steward is the father of the youngster who watched the incident.
“This officer could have handled it a lot better than he did,” Steward told Inside Edition.
He continued, “My family was 20 feet away from anybody. They were all sitting down. The kids weren’t up running around. They weren’t hurting anybody. This mask mandate is ridiculous.”
The video also shows she had a mask in her back pocket, but her lawyer said she didn’t put it on because she has asthma and has trouble breathing through a mask.
Inside Edition asked Kenneth Mendez of the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America about her defense.
“Anyone with well-controlled asthma should be able to wear a mask,” Mendez said.
Fellow cops are standing by the officer, Chris Smith, and supporters showed up at the local police department. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also weighed in, saying it was “very unfortunate, very unpleasant to look at—sad when we see something like that.”
Kitts was charged with resisting arrest and criminal trespassing.
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