Miami Police Set Up ‘Mask Traps,’ Issue $100 Fines For Wearing Improperly

“No one is safe from Miami-Dade’s new $100 no-mask fine. Not even people wearing masks,” said the Miami Herald headline.

Two weeks ago, officials in Miami-Dade County announced it would start issuing $100 fines for people for not wearing masks in public. But as usual, the over-the-top edict has been misapplied, with Florida media outlets jammed with reports about people being fined for wearing masks improperly, dropping the mask to eat or drink, or taking it off once safely outside a store. 

“On July 17, Johanna Gianni said she had just finished shopping at a Publix in North Miami Beach and was walking back to her car when she took off the face mask she had worn inside the store. Almost immediately, a police officer came up to her and told her she was getting a ticket for not wearing a mask in a public space,” The Herald reported. “Despite showing the officer she had a mask in her hand, Gianni still got the citation. She says it felt like a set-up to catch shoppers after they followed the rules where it really mattered, inside the grocery. The parking lot was nearly empty, she said, and no one was around her when she took the mask off.”

Dean Gonzalez said he was wearing his face mask when he stopped at a North Miami Beach supermarket, but he received a $110 citation anyway. 

“He said there were police officers who were not wearing their uniforms waiting for people outside. Gonzalez recorded a video of his interaction with police officers,” LOCAL10-TV reported.

“It was like a trap,” Gonzalez said. “It was a mask trap.” 

Gonzalez said that as he was talking to police officers the face mask he was wearing moved down “a little bit” and exposed his nose. That was enough for the officer to threaten Gonzalez with arrest.

“You have to wear it properly,” the officer said. “If you’re not wearing it properly, it’s like you’re not wearing it at all.”

“Gonzalez was furious. “Use a little more common sense than ticketing people with masks on their actual face. Why don’t you go after people who have no mask,” Gonzalez said.

The Herald also found Ronald Setoute, who told the paper he was in a barber shop on July 17 in North Miami and pulled the face mask for a second to take a drink of water.

Just at that moment, a police officer walked in and told him he was wearing his mask incorrectly and wrote him up for a $100 fine. Setoute tried to explain he understood the mask laws, but he said the officer did not care. His friends in the shop found the incident amusing; Setoute was usually the one following social distancing guidelines religiously. 

“There are too many people on the street walking without masks,” Setoute said. “I’m okay with the law, 100 percent. I’m always the one worried with everyone else.”