NEW YORK CITY — Officers handcuffed and removed a couple from a New York City ferry on Saturday after they refused to wear face masks and held up the ferry’s departure for more than an hour, according to multiple reports.
Police were called to Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park around 10 p.m., more than an hour after a 53-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman first rejected a captain’s order to wear a mask or disembark from the ship, according to WABC-TV and The Associated Press. Officials with NYC Ferry told WPIX that the couple “became verbally abusive to the crew and fellow passengers,” prompting the ferry’s captain to call authorities.
The couple said they had a medical condition that exempts them from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus protection order; however, they declined to show evidence of the condition to police, according to the Gothamist.
The woman, who was not identified by name, told the Gothamist that people on the ferry who wore masks were “just doing what the government is telling them.” The man, identified only as David, claimed they had been unfairly targeted by the ferry captain.
They refused to disembark from the ferry after police got involved, according to the Gothamist. As other ferry passengers got impatient, the couple was given a final chance to disembark or put on face masks, after which the news site reported they were handcuffed by police. The couple was ticketed for disorderly conduct and for violating an emergency measure, according to WABC-TV.
The woman told the Gothamist that she and her husband are suing the MTA for a similar situation that occurred after they got on an express bus without wearing masks. She said they will likely file a similar suit against the ferry company.
Officials with NYC Ferry told the AP they were investigating the incident Monday.
“The safety of our riders and crew is our number one priority,” a spokesperson for the ferry said in a statement to the AP. “We sincerely thank the NYPD for their rapid response to last night’s incident and we greatly appreciate the professionalism of our crew (along) with the patience of our riders.”