Buckeye Reporter

Gov. Mike DeWine is refusing to respond to questions regarding how mask violations should be enforced after the arrest of Alicia Kitts last week.

DeWine refused a request for comment from the Buckeye Reporter regarding the use of force when it comes to violations of his administration's mask mandate.

Kitts, who is exempted from the mask mandate due to asthma, was attending her son’s football game at Logan Middle School when she was tased and arrested for not wearing a mask. 

While DeWine did tell the Associated Press Kitts’ arrest was “very unpleasant”, he has thus far refused to clarify if citizens should be subject to arrest under the mask mandate. 

DeWine's mask mandate is currently being challenged in court for being unconstitutional.

Video of the incident shows Kitts was socially distanced at a sparsely attended middle school football game when she was arrested by police, including one officer who wasn’t wearing a mask herself. 

“Ms. Kitts was obviously alone with her children, outdoors, at a distance of much greater than six feet from anyone else. … Thus, she broke no Ohio law, not even the Governor’s own legally-dubious health directives upon which the school relied,” Maurice A. Thompson, Kitts’ attorney, told WTRF-TV.

Harassment and threats of arrest have been reported across the state and country for those not wearing masks outdoors despite maintaining social distance.

DeWines’s inaction comes as he faces increasing political pressure from within the state’s GOP. 

Just last week Senate Republicans passed S.B. 311 on a veto proof majority. The bill would immediately end lockdown orders and provides a framework to rein in the governor and state health director. 

Senate sponsor Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said DeWine is acting outside of the constitution and has no authority to keep the state under any form of lockdown. 

Citizens across Ohio have organized anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests. 

The governor is also facing an impeachment effort in the House.

Last week the CDC released revised death toll figures showing a sharp decline in the number of Covid deaths across all age brackets.