Man with 14-inch knife charged under Nassau County's controversial new mask law: police

LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (1010 WINS) – A man with a 14-inch knife was charged under Nassau County’s controversial new mask law this week after officers stopped him for “wearing a mask to conceal his identity,” county police said Tuesday.

Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo, 18, is the first person charged under the Mask Transparency Act, which was signed into law this month.

Ramirez Castillo, of Hicksville, was stopped in Levittown on Sunday evening after police responded to “reports of a suspicious male” who was walking eastbound on Spindle Road, dressed in black and “wearing a mask to conceal his identity,” police said.

When officers stopped him just before 8 p.m., he “continued to display suspicious behavior while attempting to conceal a large bulge in his waistband,” police said.

The bulge turned out to be a 14-inch knife, according to police, who said Ramirez Castillo refused to comply but was ultimately arrested.

He was arraigned Monday in Family Court in Westbury and is charged with criminal possession of a weapon and obstructing governmental administration, as well as violating the county’s mask law, which makes it illegal to wear a mask “for the purposes of concealing an individual's identity in public places.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who signed the mask ban into law earlier this month, said Sunday the arrest shows the rule is working.

“Our police officers were able to use the mask ban legislation as well as other factors to stop and interrogate an individual who was carrying a weapon with the intent to engage in a robbery,” he 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, said police didn’t necessarily need the new law to stop and question Ramirez Castillo, but it helped bolster their justification.

“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.”

But Scott Banks, attorney-in chief at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, which is representing Ramirez Castillo, challenged that notion.

“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 wrote in an email.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which has criticized the new law, repeated its warning that the mask ban is “ripe for selective enforcement by a police department with a history of aggression and discrimination.”

The law, which is the first of its kind in the U.S., was signed Aug. 14 by Blakeman. Violation of the law is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The measure exempts people who wear masks for health, safety, “religious or cultural purposes, or for the peaceful celebration of a holiday or similar religious or cultural event for which masks or facial coverings are customarily worn.”

Supporters have said it’s aimed at combatting antisemitism and crime, while critics have said it's unconstitutional and politically motivated.

Indeed, a federal class action lawsuit was filed just last week by the group Disability Rights New York, which said the law discriminates against people with disabilities and violates state and federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“This mask ban poses a direct threat to public health and discriminates against people with disabilities.” said Timothy Clune, executive director of DRNY, in a statement last week.

The group has sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to immediately stop enforcement of the county law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.