Shannon Joy: Mom arrested for lowering mask to eat gum at school meeting sues board
Shannon Joy, the New York mother who was arrested and charged with trespassing after allegedly not wearing her mask properly at a school board meeting last year, has now filed a federal lawsuit against the board.
Speaking to SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly, Joy said she had lowered the mask only for a moment so she could put a piece of gum in her mouth. According to her, that's when the school board broke for recess, called 911, and urged the authorities to arrest her. She was later seen on video being cuffed and arrested, before being charged with "trespassing". Joy told Kelly that she was specifically targeted over her past activism so they could make an example out of her and discourage other parents from speaking out. While the trespassing charge was later dismissed in the interest of “justice", Joy went on to file a federal lawsuit to help parents across the country facing trespassing charges over apparent violations of Covid-19 protocols.
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“When they called the recess, I got this sinking feeling that they were going to arrest, potentially, me,” Joy recalled. “This particular meeting was very different than previous meetings. The board had worked with an outside organization called ‘Black In The Burbs’, which is a suburban version of BLM (Black Lives Matter) and they brought in about 25 activists — all with red shirts.” She explained, “When I came into that meeting there were probably six or seven cameras on me from the second I walked into that room. So, everyone sensed that something was very different about this meeting.”
“The only time [my mask] came underneath my nose was when I took it down to put a piece of gum in my mouth,” Joy continued. “And at that moment, that’s when Mary White, who was a school board member, signaled to security and other members of the board that they wanted to go to recess. They then went to recess and I was told by the arresting officer that they called 911, requested specifically that Shannon Joy is arrested.”
The embattled mother-of-three described the experience as "terrifying" and "humiliating," noting how her husband was doxxed in the aftermath. However, she vowed that she was "not gonna back down" in her legal battle against the school board. “It was one of the most uncomfortable situations that I have ever endured,” she told Kelly. “And I’m glad that it happened because it exposed what these school boards are capable of. But it was terrifying, humiliating... the conversations I had to have that evening with my kids and my husband, my neighbors — it’s divided a lot of our neighborhood. It’s a difficult battle… but I’m not gonna back down. That’s the thing: what they did was wrong, and this is why we are filing this federal lawsuit.”
The irony.
— Shannon Joy (@ShannonJoyRadio) August 25, 2021
I was arrested for wearing my mask improperly. By a barefaced police officer and another with the mask under her chin. How is this America? pic.twitter.com/wGPraNExu7
Speaking to The Daily Wire following her arrest, Joy said she felt she was targeted. “It is becoming blatantly apparent that the Fairport School Board, Superintendent Brett Provenzano, and outside organization ‘Black In The Burbs’ collaborated to create meeting conditions designed to result in my arrest,” she said. “I have been an outspoken community organizer with a large media platform and am often critical of the board’s policy and practices regarding masking, coerced vaccination, Critical Race Theory & Comprehensive Sex Education. These individuals are so frightened of transparency and organic, open discourse that they sought to silence, intimidate and publicly humiliate me to serve as a warning to any other parent who dares to speak up. Instead, they have inadvertently outraged our community even further," she added.
Responding to Joy's allegations in an email to The Daily Wire, president of the Fairport Central School District school board Peter Forsgren said, "The district followed its established policy regarding the public comment period. Ms. Joy was not on the list for public comments.”