Maskless man arrested in southwest Illinois after refusing to leave school board meeting

A man was arrested in Waterloo after refusing to leave a school board meeting.

James Link attended the Waterloo CUSD 5 school board meeting Monday night to speak against the district’s compliance with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Waterloo Police Chief Jeff Prosise said Link was asked to put a mask on several times, both before and after officers arrived at Gardner Elementary School, where the meeting was hosted. When he refused to put a mask on, he was asked to leave the property.

After Link refused to leave the property, he was arrested and charged with criminal trespass to state supported property, Prosise said Wednesday.

“We can’t arrest anyone for not wearing a mask,” he said.

While Link was in custody, he was transferred to the police station, filed paperwork and was then released without going to jail.

“The attendee complied with the arrest and the minimal amount of force used to secure the attendee in handcuffs pursuant to Waterloo Police Department policy,” wrote the Waterloo Illinois Police Department on its Facebook page.

Prosise said the case was submitted to Monroe County State’s Attorney Lucas Liefer.

Liefer was not immediately available Wednesday, but Prosise said he was still waiting to hear if any charges would be filed.

There was nothing on the school board agenda related to the mask mandate.

At a previous school board meeting, Waterloo 5 requested some officers attend the meeting in anticipation of a protest, Prosise said.

“They asked us to be there just in case,” he said.

While some people showed up without a mask, Prosise said most eventually put one on.

Mask mandates in schools have been controversial this year, both before and after Pritzker issued an executive order requiring face masks be worn by everyone inside of a school building.

“The governor, Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois State Board of Education and health department have consistently shared what the rules are regarding how we handle mitigations to limit the spread of COVID in our schools,” said Superintendent Brian Charron. “We have a duty to adhere to those requirements. This upsets people. I get it. I don’t like wearing a mask either. But they’ve clearly explained to schools what we should be doing.”

In the last few weeks, a handful of Illinois parents have succeeded in gaining temporary restraining orders for their children so they are not required to wear masks in school unless the county health department issues such an order.

If schools were to ignore the recommended safety mitigations, Charron said parents would still be upset if school had to return to remote learning because of staff illnesses and quarantines.

“That’s also going to upset them. There’s really no way to please people right now,” he said.

This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 3:52 PM.