Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Cops crack down on masks
Gym owner handcuffed when one of his patrons was spotted without one
The cops arrest a gym owner when a Plantation gymgoer won’t wear a mask.
Deputies board Broward buses to get resistant riders to wear them.
And stiffer laws are on the way for Palm Beach County after a block party draws hundreds of revelers, many of them refusing to don masks.
The government has been getting tougher with enforcing the law across South Florida as coronavirus cases skyrocket. The stepped-up action comes as the state on Tuesday reported 191 more people have died from disease complications, a record during the pandemic.
Broward County Manager
Bertha Henry has been among those issuing the emergency orders. She said the enforcement is crucial.
“We are in such a downward spiral,” Henry told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday, noting how coronavirus patients now are traveling from Miami-Dade to be treated at Broward County hospitals. “Miami-Dade cases are up around 3,000 a day, our hospitals are now being impacted there are so many people in the hospitals.”
“I’m talking to the hospitals every day, I know how many people are getting this disease and I know people hear about the people who don’t get sick. But they aren’t paying attention to the people getting sick and dying. The numbers speak for themselves.”
She said requiring masks is essential for curbing the spread of the virus.
It’s “not that big of an imposition so our community can stay open,” she said. “This is what the science is telling us. We’re going to stay the course.”
Sent off to jail
In what may be the first arrest over Broward’s mask law, a gym owner was put in handcuffs and taken away when one of his patrons was spotted without a mask.
Michael Carnevale, who owns Fitness 1440 in Plantation, was arrested Monday afternoon, accused of failing to comply with a county emergency order, a misdemeanor. He said he wouldn’t back down from a legal fight against the county over its mask law.
It came days after Carnevale filed a lawsuit in which he argues the county’s emergency orders have interfered with “his personal livelihood, liberty and business enterprise.”
Carnevale, 31, was arrested at the 24-hour gym at 7067-A W. Broward Blvd., according to his attorney. The Plantation Police Department didn’t provide documentation Tuesday despite multiple requests.
Florida House Rep. Anthony Sabatini, Carnevale’s attorney, said he believes his client was the first person to be arrested for not complying with the mask mandate in Broward. He expected the charges to be dropped.
“It’s a bogus law,” Sabatini said. “What they charged him [with] was somebody inside your business was not wearing a mask, and you didn’t ask fast enough. Only in the insane world of Broward County would this make sense.”
The Broward State Attorney’s Office hadn’t received the arrest paperwork yet. “The case will be sent to our office, and prosecutors will review the evidence and make a decision on what, if any, charge should be formally filed,” the state attorney’s spokeswoman said.
Requiring masks on buses
Some bus riders have refused to wear masks, worrying people that the virus will spread.
So Broward sheriff ’s deputies will begin random checks on county buses and at terminals to make sure riders are obeying the mask mandate.
It came at the request of mass transit officials who were concerned about the safety of their drivers and riders and who were having trouble getting riders to comply, according to an email obtained by the Sun Sentinel.
“Each case will be handled as it comes up,” said Broward sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.
Non-compliant riders will get warnings, and if they refuse to comply, they could be ordered off the bus.
It could also lead to an arrest for repeat offenders, she said, but they are “hoping to get voluntary compliance.”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office is among several agencies setting out to enforce the mask law. In Miami, a team of 39 police officers recently were assigned solely to enforce mask violations. Miami officers were fining people $100 for not wearing their masks the first and second time. The third offense will be met with arrest or a notice to appear.
Big party
In Palm Beach County, Mayor Dave Kerner said Tuesday that there is an executive order in the works that would create penalties for large gatherings ranging from warnings to criminal enforcement.
It was spurred by a block party this month in Belle Glade that drew hundreds of people and “there was not a lot of cooperation with the mask policy.”
That “can’t happen in the pandemic.” Moving forward, Henry said there is still talk of shutdowns, but that’s something they’re trying to avoid.
“I wish we didn’t have to do it. I am getting so much pressure to shut everything down,” she said. “The numbers are not stabilizing. We’re in a downward trend and I’m trying so hard not to do that because so many people say if we do it again their business will never reopen.”