February 16, 2022
Kentucky Sheriffs Threaten to Arrest Maskless Woman Trying to Enter Courthouse for Hearing
Video Shows Deputies Refusing to Allow Defendant
to Attend Proceeding Despite Disability
Feb. 16, 2022
By LUCAS WALL
CRESTWOOD, Kentucky – Two sheriff’s deputies threatened to arrest a Louisville woman today when she attempted to enter the Oldham County Courthouse without a mask on to attend a hearing in a case that began in September 2020 when a shooting range had her charged with trespassing for asserting her right to a disability exemption from its mask policy.
Shannon Cila went into the courthouse lobby with her husband, Eric, for her 2 p.m. hearing before Judge Brittney McKenna on her motion to dismiss the three charges against her stemming from the Sept. 12, 2020, incident at Openrange Gun Range in Crestwood. A video Greer posted to YouTube shows Eric entering first and placing a mask on. Shannon then enters the building and its immediately told by an Oldham County sheriff’s deputy “You have to put a mask on mam.”
“What is the order for the mask?” Shannon asked. She’s immediately met with threats and hostility from the two deputies on duty at the courthouse entrance.
“The judge has told you the order,” a deputy said. “We have instructions if you don’t put a mask on, you will be arrested. That’s what I can tell you mam. We don’t make the rules. We just follow them.”
Shannon filed a motion earlier this month to vacate the court’s mask order, noting it references a circuit court directive that is not posted on the Kentucky judicial system’s website. She also argues a new Kentucky law prohibits any governmental entity from requiring any person to cover their face. McKenna has yet to rule on that motion. The judge forced Shannon to attend today’s hearing in person even though her previous 10 or so hearings were conducted remotely via Zoom due to her inability to safely obstruct her oxygen intake.
A second deputy told Shannon: “Here’s the deal, you’re leaving the building.”
Shannon responded that she has a right under the federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act to refuse the use of an experimental medical device, which most face masks are classified as by the Food & Drug Administration. She told the deputies she needed to attend her court hearing.
“I’m not getting into it,” the first deputy said. “Please leave now. I’m not going to say it again. You will wear a mask or you will be arrested. We’re not playing this anymore. The judge is fed up.”
Shannon inquired what law requires her to wear a mask. The sheriffs – both of who were wearing gaiters, a type of face covering the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention say are completely worthless in blocking the spread of viral particles – refused to cite any statute.
“I’m not gonna get into the give and take,” the first deputy said. “I have my orders. I suggest you leave. That’s twice. If I say it again, you’re going to jail. I’ve instructed you twice to put a mask on or you’re going to be arrested. I’m under the judge’s order to arrest you.”
The deputy continued: “Leave or go to jail. Which one do you want? Leave or go to jail. I’m not getting into this. Please exit the building. If you come back, you’re going to jail. … Your game is over. Stop testing me both of you. You leave the premises or you go to jail. If you don’t leave the premises, you’re going to jail. Don’t play your game.”
Eric, still wearing a mask, informed the deputies there is no “game.” He then asked the first deputy to pull his gaiter up over his nose since he was violating the very policy he was attempting to enforce.
A deputy then threatened Eric, saying “Why don’t you tell me what to do with my mask off duty?”
The Greers then exited the courthouse. Shannon said in an interview at 3 p.m. that she has not received word of what transpired at the court hearing she was prohibited from attending.
Shannon is charged with criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest from the incident 17 months ago, when Openrange Gun Range refused to accommodate her disability.
“I am terrified for our country because we are supposed to be guaranteed that the courts will be open and we can obtain a legal remedy,” Shannon said. “I went there for a hearing and they denied me entry. If they do it to me because of the mask this time, why wouldn’t they do it to someone else for something different next time? They want to arrest me for not wearing a mask. How can they arrest people for declining to be forced to wear a medical device? Do we not have bodily autonomy anymore? They won’t make any exceptions whatsoever.”
Shannon said she is considering filing criminal harassment charges against the deputies as well as a federal civil-rights lawsuit against them and the Oldham County Sheriff’s Department for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. She has already spoken with the Kentucky court system’s ADA coordinator, who said the only accommodation they offer is for a mask-exempt person to wear a face shield, which Shannon is also medically unable to do.
“A mask or a face shield doesn’t do anything at all to stop the spread of COVID-19,” she said. “FDA has written to manufactures of face shields telling them they can’t claim they can stop any kind of disease.”
The case is Commonwealth v. Cila, No. 20-M-347, in the Oldham County District Court.
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