California man arrested for not masking on last day of Gavin Newsom’s Covid emergency measures

Jordan Henry recalled the incident on Twitter, stating in a video, "today I was arrested for not wearing a mask at a Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California." Henry, a landscape architect, was appalled that more than 3 years into the pandemic he was taken into custody for refusing to cover his face, especially as the face masks have been proven in study after study to be ineffective.

Henry said that he had an appointment to get a new glasses prescription, noting that February 28 marked the end of the state’s Covid-19 health emergency.

"Kaiser has very little justification certainly legally to require a mask. It’s purely a policy issue. Regardless, they call the police on me, two Pasadena police officers showed up plus a third sergeant," he said.

Henry noted that the three officers that showed up were not wearing masks as well, and when he asked why they weren’t wearing masks, two of them put their masks on, and the third "thanked me actually for what I was doing, he agreed with me."

Henry said that the police instructed the nurse on staff to conduct a citizen’s arrest for trespassing "because I refused to leave."

"I wanted to get a medical service which they were refusing because of the mask," Henry said.

He said that the citizen's arrest was conducted, and the police warned him that if he continued to refuse to leave, "they would charge me for resistance of arrest, and that would be another criminal charge."

A court date has been set for May 20, 2023.

"This is the state of affairs today in California," Henry said. "If you resist, they will arrest you. We have to look out for each other, we have to look out for our own individual liberties and this is significant."

California, as of February 21, requires people to wear masks in healthcare settings and in long-term care and adult senior care settings.

Henry told The Post Millennial that the incident occurred at Kaiser Permanente’s Vision Essentials location on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.

When Henry entered the building, he was told to put on a mask.

"I said, 'no I’m okay, thank you, I don’t need one.' Then they push back. They’re like, 'well, we can’t do the examination,' and I said, 'well, are you going to deny me health care because I’m refusing the mask?' And they said, 'yeah, that’s our policy," Henry recalled.

Henry told the worker that "you have no legal justification to do that, where’s the law," to which the worker stated, "you can take it up with the CDC."

It was after this point that he was told to go sit down while the worker called a manager, and eventually a nurse came out and said that Henry needed to wear the mask or leave.

"I’m not going to leave because I need to get my prescription made and I’m not gonna wear the mask and you can’t deny me medical service. I have the right to get medical attention that I need," Henry said.

Henry told The Post Millennial that he showed the nurse the law that states that, who said in response that they were going to call the police, "then it escalated from there."

Henry recalled a man in the office sitting at a computer "who had his mask at his lips," and when he pointed this out, the nurse said, "it doesn’t matter, he’s still wearing a mask."

In an office behind the desk area, Henry said that he saw a woman who was wearing a mask underneath her chin, and when she saw that Henry was filming, she pulled her mask up. In regards to the filming, Henry was told later on that filming violates HIPAA.

"HIPAA actually requires them to have a policy for filming, and I asked for one and they didn’t provide one," Henry said.

In regards to the police that showed up, Henry said that the first officer, the one who wrote him the citation, "actually supported me. He was like, 'thanks for what you’re doing. We need people like you."

The officer told Henry that his wife, a nurse, had to find another job so she didn’t get fired for violating the state’s vaccine mandates.

Henry told The Post Millennial that he is currently looking for an attorney to represent him for his court date. A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for Henry's legal fees.

"I could get jailed up to six months or a $1,000 fine, or both," Henry said.

Henry noted that the expiration of California’s Covid-19 emergency wasn’t over until just before midnight on February 28, and that news articles only noted that the order was over that day.

"It just says that it’s over today, so I went there thinking it was over today," he said, also noting that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed their emergency order until March 31. The Kaiser Permanente location, which resides in the county, was enforcing this policy.

In terms of leaving the state, which Henry said he was looking to do, he said that his family has to wait until his wife, a flute player, lands an audition before a move can take place.