The footage shows a police officer entering the Bank of America branch in Galveston and telling the woman that the bank can deny her service if she doesn’t put on a mask. She insists she doesn’t have to and the officer tells her she will be arrested for “breaking into the property” if she refuses to cooperate or leaves the bank. Finally, the officer ties her up and takes her off 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 don’t need one,” and was offered a mask by the employee.
When White declined the mask, she said she was asked to leave.
“I said no, I just want to close my account and then I leave,” she told KTRK. “(The employee) says, ‘Well, if you don’t leave, I’m going to call the police.’ I said, “Well, do what you gotta do.” “
Galveston Mayor Craig Brown told CNN the woman had been arrested on charges of wrongdoing – “not because she wasn’t wearing a mask.”
According to KTRK, police said White was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest.
CNN has contacted White, but has not heard. Neither Galveston Police nor Bank of America have responded to requests for comment.
What the images show
The camera footage of the body shows a Galveston police officer entering the bank and confronting the woman on Thursday, saying, “Ma’am, if they ask you to leave, you must leave.”
The woman tells the officer that she is trying to get her money. The officer responds by telling her what the officer says she still has to “obey the rules.”
“Companies have the right to refuse service even if you don’t wear a mask. That’s their choice,” the officer said.
“What are you going to do,” she asks, “arrest me?”
“Yes, for entering the premises,” says the officer. He tells the woman to go outside.
The woman insists she is in a public place (“This is a private company,” the officer says) 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 shackle her. Soon enough, she’s sitting on the floor of the bank and saying to other people in the bank, all of whom seem to be wearing masks, “Police brutality, folks.”
“No”, they say. “No, that’s not it.”
The officer takes the woman out of the bank. She says she thinks the officer broke her foot, and the officer calls for medical attention. He places her in the back of a patrol car before the footage ends.
Reopening is a “delicate 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 to hold her own and that she is “very opposed” to masks, saying at one point, “I will not wear that diaper on my face.”
“Many of the businesses and restaurants and shopping areas here on the island are still enforcing or requesting all their customers and customers to wear masks,” said Galveston Mayor Brown. “This particular incident was a lady who refused to do that, the bank said that’s their policy.”
“It’s a delicate balance,” he added, to maintain security while the places open. “That’s why we still encourage everyone on our island to stay socially distant and wear their masks.”