A group of Oregon State Police were caught on camera appearing to defy Gov. Kate Brown's statewide mask order while in uniform. According to the shop owner one went on a profanity laced tirade against the governor when confronted.
July 3, 2020

If anyone needs any more proof of just how toxic Donald Trump has been to any hope of the United States coming out of this pandemic without who knows how many thousands upon thousands of unnecessary deaths from the coronavirus, just take a look at this story.

These state police officers were supposed to be enforcing the law, and instead they were making life miserable for a coffee shop assistant manager who was just trying to keep his fellow employees and customers safe during this pandemic.

Thankfully one of them is on leave, but they really need to fire the whole lot of them.

Here's more from The Oregonian: Oregon State Police don’t wear coronavirus masks while patronizing coffee shop, despite governor’s order:

A group of Oregon State Police troopers appeared to defy Gov. Kate Brown’s statewide mask order while in uniform Wednesday, entering a Corvallis coffee shop without wearing required face coverings, video obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive shows.

The store’s assistant manager, Travis Boss, said he told the first trooper who arrived that the trooper needed to wear a mask.

“Governor Brown has no authority to take our civil liberties. We aren’t going to wear masks,” the trooper allegedly said, according to a written statement from Boss provided to the newsroom.

The trooper proceeded to place his order, Boss said in an interview, offering a foul-mouthed retort to the governor’s mandate that masks be worn within indoor public spaces.

“He said, ‘F--- Kate Brown,’” Boss recalled.

The trooper’s alleged comments came on the same day that Brown’s statewide mask order went into effect, and just hours before Brown implored Oregonians to wear facial coverings as a “simple, common sense way to protect yourself and others” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Three other law enforcement officers entered the business moments later and also refused a request to wear masks, Boss said. Boss said he felt compelled to fulfill their drink orders because they were in uniform, even though he said he had sent other patrons away earlier for not wearing masks.

[...]

Allan’s Coffee & Tea reported Wednesday’s incident to local police. Oregon State Police responded by launching an internal investigation, said Capt. Timothy Fox, an agency spokesman.

“The involved trooper has been placed on administrative leave,” Fox said in a statement. “OSP is early in the investigation, but if found to be true, we are thoroughly disappointed and expect our troopers to follow the governor’s executive orders and be examples in the community.”

Fox confirmed Thursday that all four are state troopers assigned to Oregon State University. Fox would not name the trooper on leave.

[...]

Kathryn Morgan said they expected some customers would not want to comply with Brown’s mask order. But she found it “pretty upsetting” that the troopers would not wear masks, putting their business in an awkward position of being at risk for not following the rules.

“It’s sad,” she said. “These are people in a position of power and leaders in the community. I think we look to them as examples. For them not to be following the orders, whether or not they agree with it, is telling.”

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