A father of two from upstate New York was seen on video being forcibly being dragged out by a security guard form a school board meeting this week for not wearing a face mask. Dave Calus, the father, was seen being approached by a security guard while he was sitting in a chair observing a presentation at a board of education meeting in Webster on Tuesday night.
He was asked to put on a face covering which he didn't and as a result was tossed from the school board meeting. Calus said he was attending the regularly scheduled school board meeting to speak out against mask mandates in schools.
Thrown Out
The footage shows a security guard approaching an unmasked Calus, while he is sitting in a chair and watching a presentation at the Webster School Board meeting. "Sir, you need to put on a mask," the security guard reportedly told Calus.
Calus answered, "Thank you," but refused to put on his mask. The video shows the security guard insisting, "No, you need to put your mask on right now."
Calus said he thanked the guard once again, but was told he needed to put on a mask again.
The video then shows Calus' chair being dragged to the furthest corner of the room by the security guard. According to video shared to the Facebook page 'ROC for Educational Freedom Public Page', Calus turned around to confront.
Others present at the meeting immediately turn their attention toward Calus as a breaks out.
"What are you doing?!" the woman filming the video yells. "What are you doing?! Holy crap. Holy crap."
"That is assault. That is assault." the woman says.
"Do you put your hands on our children, too?" another lady asks the guard.
However, that doesn't stop the guard from throwing Calus.
The guard, who appears enraged, takes the chair and tips it over, one hand beneath the seat and the other on the back. He then pushes the father-of-two out of the room. "What exactly are you up to?! That's a form of assault!"
Agitated Parents
Some parents were taken by shock and are now caring for the safety of their children. "'Do you put your hands on our children, too?" one father asked.
Calus was thrown out of the meeting and taken to the nearest emergency room for evaluation. He said he was a "bit sore" following the event but overall fine on Kimberly's "Revolution" podcast on Wednesday.
The incident occurred just one day before New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the end of the state's indoor mask mandate for employers, noting a 93 percent decline in Covid-19 infections since the Omicron variant's nationwide outbreak. The rule, however, continues to apply to schools and other state-run facilities.
While a first-grader was presenting a presentation, Dave Calus was approached by the guard, who noted that he was "sitting peacefully."
The encounter, according to Calus, was unprovoked. He has two sons, one in high school and the other in college. "I went into the building without a mask on. I signed in and they said 'you need to wear a mask,' he said on the podcast. "I said 'thank you.'"
"I signed in, they handed me a mask – I did not put the mask on – and I put it in my pocket."
"They were segregating masked and unmasked parents," he said. "The unmasked parents were going to have to sit in a classroom with a video monitoring watching and listening to the board meeting."
Calus claimed he was assigned to a classroom and quickly realized, "This isn't going to work for me." He then stepped down to the main board room and was told to put on his mask once more.
Before the guard approached him, Calus said he had been seated for around 15 or 20 minutes. He wasn't surprised when the guard approached him, because he'd seen him approach other maskless parents and ask them to cover their faces.
A day later the indoor mask mandate was removed but it still applies to state-regulated establishments such as schools, health care facilities, senior care facilities and nursing homes, penal facilities, childcare centers, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and public transportation.
All other companies, including shops, movie theatres, gyms/fitness centers and restaurants, are no longer ordered to demand masks but can do so if they desire.
