Joseph Bryant, a 61-year-old man, was arrested in downtown Nashville Wednesday evening for not wearing a mask.
Bryant was approached by police in the downtown area of Nashville at approximately 6:40 p.m. for not wearing a mask, according to News Channel 5. The police cited Bryant for violating Nashville’s standing mask mandate.
Police said that Bryant had two masks in his pocket when he was stopped.
About an hour later, police saw Bryant in the same area, still without a mask.
Bryant was taken to the jail at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office at 8:30 p.m.
He was cited and booked for violating Metro Code 2.36.190, which states that “it is unlawful for any person to violate an order of the board of health or of the chief medical director.”
Bryant was held Thursday morning on a $500 bond.
The citation was recalled and Bryant’s case was retired after a meeting between the District Attorney and Bryant’s public defender Thursday afternoon.
Bryant’s case marks the first misdemeanor arrest in Nashville for non-compliance with the mask mandates.
The Nashville Public Defender’s office released a statement Thursday morning, saying it was “outraged” by Bryant’s arrest.
The Public Defender’s office, which is led by Martesha Johnson, referred to what it claims is “blatant blatant disregard from the bars, pedal taverns, party buses, wedding parties and individuals that frequent the Lower Broadway area.”
Comparing this to Bryant’s arrest, the office decried what it calls “wealth based disparities in the criminal legal system [sic],” “the criminalization of poverty,” and “disparate police practices among marginalized and minority communities in Nashville.”
It should be noted that this was not Bryant’s first encounter with the police. He has been arrested 20 times since June 2019 for various charges ranging from assault to drug-related offenses to the patronizing of prostitution. 11 of these charges have been dismissed.
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Sam Medley is a journalist at the Tennessee Star and Star News Network. You can follow Sam at Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
My question for all the Leftists or others who support garbage Politicians forcing them to bend a knee, what happens if this guy would have resisted? Every time you make a law, there is the possibility of the police killing someone to enforce it. Are you ready for that? What if this dude was on drugs and struggled and tried to grab one of the cops guns? Are you ready for Nashville to turn into Portland because a guy wasn’t wearing a mask outside? Are you people fucking crazy? There are 150,000 people dead out of 350,000,000… That is 0.04% of the Nation (0.02% if you don’t count those murdered by NY, PA, NJ, and MI Governors sending sick patients into senior care centers). You fucking mask Nazis are ready for a full blown war on the 0.0000000000000000000001% chance you may get sick and die because a guy walked buy you without a mask.
There is NO scientific evidence that masks are effective in preventing viral spread. All of the so-called research studies end with phrases like “seem to” or “may indicate” – no empirical data. It is purely lore and fear-mongering.
….you support having people arrested for violating Covid lockdown rules, but only if they’re Country Music fans. ( aka Trump supporters)
Don’t jump on the backs of the Police. They are simply following orders from the mayor. If you want to chastise someone for this ridiculous arrest, start with mayor cooper.
then the police should grow a pair and refuse to enforce such ridiculous orders!
Here is an idea.If you think everything done is based on race, you go get this gentleman and house him, give him food and take care of his every need so he will stop being a burden on society. Black on black crime is totally out of control and the only thing the black leadership can come up with is that it’s white societies fault. No, if you want to see the cause of problem go look in the mirror. They have baby mama’s and baby daddy’s not mother’s and father’s that are being responsible God fearing parents, while teaching their children right from wrong. Stop blaming all of your problems on the whites. I know too many black’s that have excelled because they were taught and raised by responsible parents.
The officers issuing citations to perpetuate the hoax that masks actually work, should be ashamed of themselves. They keep telling us to follow the science, yet every single time we do, we’re told we are wrong.
FYI “science” is not facebook posts by russian trolls.
pere ubu – Still blaming on the Russians I see…
Isn’t that cute, even after everything that has come out the little Leftist still reflexively screams “Russia Russia Russia”.
A mandate is NOT a law. How does law enforcement “arrest” someone who is NOT violating any law? Can ANY law enforcement officer quote the statute of the law they claim to be using for the arrest? Of course not because NO BILL WAS PASSED by the state congress or signed into law by the governor, a mandatory process for any new laws in a state.
The public defender is upset because it appears the only people arrested thus far are homeless people. The police have probably been told not to arrest any tourists, but they needed to make an example of someone.
Hers is a link to a study that appears on the NIH website,which concluded that use of a cloth mask significantly raises the likelihood of influenza like illness:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/?fbclid=IwAR3VvTaqeG1uCWh8ziuCH98gWOOt1yE_z3c1WKmf6yAzH5BONLFlA_HklZE
Mask mandates are setting the stage for a class action, personal injury lawsuit of staggering proportions.
Uh…yeah, healthcare workers would be foolish to wear a cloth mask over a medical mask.. and they don’t, unless they have no choice and PPE is not available as was the case early on. Notice they didn’t have an arm comparing no mask… So, you really have no case to be made. Thanks.
Arrested 20 times in 1 year?!? This man desperately needs help. Unfortunately, downtown Nashville is flooded with homeless addicts & alcoholics, & is often unsafe even in broad daylight.
On the other hand, 11 of the arrests didn’t stick and charges were dismissed. Sounds like Nashville Police need some help. With such a dangerous criminal, they are down to enforcing medical officer “orders” for do-nothing masks.