Prineville police cite, remove woman from fairgrounds after mask incident

Officers say she refused to leave barrel racing event, had not worn mask properly

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) – A woman was placed in handcuffs by Prineville police, removed from the Crook County Fairgrounds and cited for second-degree criminal trespass after she refused to wear a mask properly at a weekend barrel racing event, or to leave the property, police said Monday.

Police responded around 2 p.m. Saturday to the fairgrounds, the second police call to the facility regarding the woman, Captain Larry Seymour said. The first time, officers contacted the senior security official at the event, who said police response wasn’t needed, as the woman had left.

But the woman returned, Seymour said, and refused to leave. Police recorded the incident on body cameras and spoke to all involved, including the woman’s husband and security personnel.

Two officers “did their best to encourage the female to leave on her own, but she refused and told the officers to take her to jail,” Seymour wrote in a news release, adding that she refused to leave the property for the remainder of the event.

After all attempts to resolve the incident failed, the woman was placed in handcuffs and transported off the property, Seymour said. At that point, he said, officers asked her once again if she would stay off the fairgrounds property, and she said she would.

Arrangements were made to get her vehicle off the property, and she was cited for the Class C misdemeanor and released.

Seymour noted that police routinely respond to businesses when a patron is disorderly, not abiding by rules or laws, or violating OLCC or OSHA rules, and also when they refuse a business owner’s request to leave.

The original reason for the request by security staff to have the woman cited was that she was not following rules for the barrel racing event, by “not wearing a mask and-or partially wearing a mask,” Seymour said.

The Central Oregon Barrel Racing Association posted a note to Facebook, reminding everyone to follow the fairgrounds rules in order to continue having events, Seymour said. He added that the case was sent to the Crook County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Seymour said he issued a news release (which did not identify the woman) “in an attempt to clear up some non-factual FB posts that have been shared” and to answer reporters’ requests for information.

The woman told NewsChannel 21 that she felt singled out and claimed others at the event were not wearing masks, but others who said they also had been at the fairgrounds disputed her statements.