Teen girl is handcuffed and put in jail for going to school without a mask

A straight-A student’s quiet protest of the mask mandate at a Wyoming high school was made into a public spectacle by the school, which incredibly “locked down” the facility for about an hour and a half while the 16-year-old junior who was arrested and taken away from the school in handcuffs.

Presumably the goal was to inflate Grace Smith’s protest of the mask mandate into a major event at Laramie High School that would place her under some peer pressure. She said she has already been feeling that pressure since she organized a Sept. 10 walkout and protest over masks.

Grace Smith had returned to LHS on Oct. 7 after two consecutive two-day suspensions for not obeying Albany County School District’s mask mandate, which requires anyone inside a district building to have a face covering. The rule was created in September and was set to be reviewed before the end of October, according to the Laramie Boomerang.

Smith said the mandate violates her constitutional rights and refuses to wear a mask. LHS administration warned her that she faces two days of suspension and a misdemeanor trespassing citation every time she’s in the building with no mask.

She proceeded to incur two trespassing tickets and the citations are racking up.

“After talking with our attorney, we decided to push it,” she said.

After her two suspensions she returned on Oct. 7 and Thursday and again was ticketed for trespassing, with the added spectacle of being handcuffed and taken to the police station in downtown Laramie. Smith captured the whole incident, which stayed peaceful, on video.

Smith said she was surprised the incident prompted a schoolwide lockdown, especially since things were quiet and cordial.