The footage shows a police officer entering the Bank of America branch in Galveston and telling the woman that the bank could refuse her service if she did not wear a mask. She insists she does not have to do this, and the officer tells her that she will be arrested for making a burglary on the premises if she refuses to cooperate or leave the bank. Eventually, the officer handcuffed her and removed her from the couch.
Terry White, 65, told KTRK that she entered the bank without a mask and was asked by an employee if she had one. White replied, “No thank you, I do not need one,” and she was offered a mask by the employee.
When White refused the mask, she said she was asked to go.
“I said no, I just want to close my account and then I go,” she told KTRK. ‘(The employee) says:’ Well, if you are not going to leave, I will call the police. “I said, ‘Well, do what you have to do.’
Galveston Mayor Craig Brown told CNN the woman was arrested on a charge of trespassing – “not because she is not wearing a mask.”
According to KTRK, police said White was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.
CNN reached out to White but did not hear it. Neither the Galveston Police Department nor the Bank of America responded to requests for comment.
What the footage shows
The body footage showed a Galveston police officer entering the bank and confronting the woman on Thursday, telling her, “Ma’am, if they ask you to leave, you must leave.”
The woman tells the officer that she wants to withdraw her money. The officer responds by telling her what the officer says she still ‘has to follow the rules’.
“Businesses have the right to refuse service, even if you are not wearing a mask. It is their choice,” the officer said.
“What are you going to do,” she asks, “arrest me?”
“Yes, because you intruded on the premises,” the officer said. He tells the woman to step outside.
The woman maintains that she is in a public place (‘This is a private business’, says the officer) and accuses the officer of ‘taking away people’s human rights’.
A brief struggle ensues when the woman initially appears to be resisting while the officer begins to handcuff her. Soon she’s on the floor of the couch and says to other people inside the couch, who are all apparently wearing masks: ‘Police brutality, people.’
“No,” they say. “No it’s not.”
The officer takes the woman out of the couch. She says she thinks the officer broke her foot, and the officer is asking for emergency medical services. He places her in the back of a patrol car before the footage ends.
Reopening is a ‘fine balance’, says mayor
In an interview Friday, White told KTRK that she had traveled to Galveston in her recreational vehicle and was aware of the governor’s order to lift the mask mandate. KTRK reported that White was happy that she stood her ground and that she was “very opposed” to masks and at one point said, “I will not wear that diaper on my face.”
“Many of the businesses and restaurants and shops here on the island are still enforcing or asking all their customers and customers to wear masks,” Mayor Brown said. “This particular incident was a lady who refused to do so, the bank said it is their policy.”
“It’s a fine balance,” he added, maintaining safety as places opened. “That’s why we encourage everyone on our island to keep social distance and wear their mask.”