Fort Worth police officers criticized for not wearing masks inside gas station
Four Fort Worth police officers were criticized on social media after video showed them not wearing masks inside a gas station.
The video was posted to Facebook on Thursday in various groups and was shared at least 70 times by Friday evening.
Will Cuthbertson took the video at 1:50 a.m. Thursday at a QuikTrip on Hemphill Street. He said he went into the QuikTrip and noticed two officers walked in behind him without masks on.
“The clerk jokingly said, ‘Y’all need to leave if you don’t have a mask,’” Cuthbertson said. “And the officers made a wisecrack back and were making jokes about it.”
Cuthbertson said he was annoyed by the officers’ lack of masks, so he grabbed his phone to take video. Two more officers — a woman and another man — walked in, also not wearing masks.
“I didn’t hear the woman officer or the other one say anything about masks,” he said. “But the other two thought it was a big joke that they weren’t wearing them.”
In the video, four officers stand in QuikTrip near the fountain drinks. None of them are wearing masks. A clerk, who is wearing a mask, stands behind them at a counter.
“Should they be putting the employees in such an awkward position? Aren’t they breaking the law?” Cuthbertson wrote on his Facebook post with the video.
In response to the video, Fort Worth police Captain Mark A. Barthen said the department directs officers to wear personal protective equipment when interacting with one another and with the public for safety and to lead by example.
“We expect that our officers comply with the orders in place regarding face coverings and we address these issues individually when officers are seen out of compliance,” he wrote in an email.
He said this incident and “any other instances where officers are not in compliance will be addressed by the appropriate chain of command.”
In Tarrant County, customers are required to wear masks inside businesses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Businesses are in violation of the order if they do not require customers to do so.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s June 24 order says any peace officer or other person with lawful authority is authorized to enforce the mask order.
Barthen said when Abbott announced the order, police administration told the department that Fort Worth code compliance was the primary enforcer of the order, but officers might be called on if needed.
“When we see issues, we can, and should, educate people about the order and the importance of wearing masks and social distancing to preserve their health and the health of others,” the message to the department said. “Our employees need to set an example with the mask wearing.”
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 7:04 PM.
