A Brooklyn couple was taken off of a New York City ferry in handcuffs Saturday night after they refused to follow the captain’s order requiring everyone to wear a face covering, Gothamistreports.
The two were headed back home from Manhattan when they were asked to get off the boat while it was docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park over their refusal to wear a mask. A standoff ensued for around 45 minutes until the police arrived. The couple claimed that they were exempt from the state’s face covering order due to a medical condition. The officers later asked them to provide proof of their medical issue, but they declined.
As the husband tried to argue that he was being discriminated against, his wife suggested that they were being targeted because they are white. “If we were fucking Black, I can guarantee you that guy would never come out and tell us put a mask on,” she reportedly said.
Other riders grew increasingly impatient over the impasse with the couple and demanded that the police just take them off the ferry.
After they refused the officers’ final offer to let them leave voluntarily, both of them were cuffed and removed from the boat.
The wife said she has already filed a lawsuit against the MTA over a similar ordeal on a bus and will likely bring forth another suit against the ferry company.
