A father from Rochester, N.Y., who was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing about in the spring of 2021 for refusing to wear a mask to his son’s outdoor baseball game while also social distancing has been clear by a judge.
The dad, Chad Hummel, who is a lawyer, was facing up to 90 days in jail as well as professional licensing actions but he was acquitted by state Judge Joseph J. Valentino following a four-hour bench trial last week, The Daily Wire reported.
Now, Hummel is planning a lawsuit against the school district over the incident and its move to bar him from school district property, which threatens to prevent him from attending his son’s graduation ceremony.
“Mr. Hummel is pleased with the verdict and he is thankful for the Court‘s thoughtful legal Decision,” a press release sent to The Daily Wire from Hummel said.
The release also suggested that a pair of witnesses for the prosecution told “untrue testimony under oath” during the trial.
“Hummel cannot elaborate on their identity or the nature of the untrue testimony as he prepares for the civil lawsuit to come and believes that the civil litigation is the appropriate forum for that truth to come out,” the statement said.
“The Trespass charge arose from an incident where Hummel was standing alone in a field, hundreds of feet from anyone, maskless, when he was approached by [a] security guard employed by the Irondequoit Chief of Police, Alan Laird‘s private security company in Town,” the statement described.
“The plain-clothes guard ordered Hummel to leave his son‘s baseball game despite the Executive Order at the time that did not require outdoor masking,” the statement added.
“There was even a sign on the Stadium entrance that stated masks were optional when 6 feet apart. Mr. Hummel stood his ground and the police arrived, handcuffed him and took him to jail,” it continued.
In May, Hummel told The Daily Wire that in order for the school district to avoid a civil suit, he would need to be issued a formal apology and the appropriate people would need to resign.
“The message to the school district is simply this: I could have a pretty substantial civil rights lawsuit when my criminal case gets dismissed,” he said. “But I’m not in this for the money. I don’t want their money.
“If they want to issue a public apology to all of the people that they’ve been heavy-handed against, and if a couple people want to publicly resign, I’ll give them a full release of my lawsuit that I could bring against them once my criminal case is dismissed,” he added.
“They can keep the money; I don’t want it. If they don’t want to resign and they don’t want to issue a public apology, then they’re going to make that decision for me. They’ll give me no choice; I’ll have to bring a lawsuit against them. It’s that simple,” he continued.
The press release noted further: “Mr. Hummel has been previously quoted as stating that, ‘[he] would accept a public apology, some resignations and a change to the school code of conduct’ in lieu of monetary damages. Now that the District sought to criminalize him, damage his professional career and hurt his family, he‘s reconsidering.”
