In a significant first under a new local law banning face masks, police in the suburbs of New York City have made an arrest, officials confirmed Tuesday. Nassau County Police disclosed that officers responded Sunday night to reports of a suspicious person near the Levittown and Hicksville town line, roughly 30 miles east of Manhattan.
Upon arrival, officers encountered 18-year-old Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo wearing all black, including a ski mask that left only his eyes visible. According to the department, Ramirez Castillo displayed further suspicious behavior, such as trying to hide a noticeable bulge in his waistband and refusing to obey the officers’ commands.
The bulge was later identified as a 14-inch knife, leading to Ramirez Castillo’s arrest without further incident. On Monday, he was arraigned in Nassau County District Court in Hempstead on misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a weapon and obstructing governmental administration, per Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s office.
Police department spokesperson Lt. Scott Skrynecki stated that Ramirez Castillo will soon face a misdemeanor violation of the recently enacted face mask law. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who signed the mask ban into law earlier this month, declared the arrest as evidence that the rule is effective.
“Our police officers were able to use the mask ban legislation along with other factors to stop and interrogate an individual who was carrying a weapon with the intent to engage in a robbery,” Blakeman said in an emailed statement. “Passing this law gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal.”
Keith Ross, a criminal justice professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, pointed out that the new law helped strengthen the officers’ justification for the stop. “The law gives police, at the very least, reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop,” the retired New York City police officer explained by phone. “Under reasonable suspicion, police can forcibly stop a person in New York state if they are suspected of committing a felony or a penal law misdemeanor, which is where this new law falls.”
However, Scott Banks, attorney-in-chief at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County representing Ramirez Castillo, contested that viewpoint. “There is no basis to believe that wearing a face mask was intended to conceal identity or criminal behavior, and if that was the basis of the stop I believe there is a basis to conclude the stop was unlawful,” he stated in an email.
Skrynecki declined further comment, noting that police and county officials would discuss the incident at a news conference on Wednesday. The New York Civil Liberties Union has been critical of the new law, reiterating that the mask ban is “ripe for selective enforcement by a police department with a history of aggression and discrimination.”
Disability Rights of New York, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, has also launched a legal challenge against the mask law, arguing that it is unconstitutional and discriminatory. The federal class action lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the ban.
The Mask Transparency Act was passed by the county’s Republican-controlled legislature in response to incidents described as “antisemitic,” often committed by masked individuals since the Oct. 7 onset of the Israel-Hamas war. The law classifies wearing a face covering to hide one’s identity in public as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, with exemptions for masks worn for health, safety, religious or cultural purposes, or for traditional holiday celebrations.
This story was first published on Aug. 27, 2024. It was updated on Aug. 28, 2024, to correct the court in which the defendant was arraigned. It was Nassau County District Court in Hempstead, not Family Court in Westbury.
