After authorities claimed that he had pushed another student to film his latest anti-mask video, the father of a Florida highschool student was charged with child abuse.
According to a Broward County Sheriff's Office arrest report, Dan Bauman was filming his daughter on Wednesday morning as she tried to enter Fort Lauderdale High School with no mask. Authorities said that another student had told Bauman, "I've had enough for the past four days" and attempted to grab his cellphone.
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According to the report, Bauman, 50, shoved the girl against a fence, grabbed her arm and turned her around "in an aggressive way." Then, a school resource officer (or security guard) pulled him away from her.
In his report, the resource officer stated that he had recorded Bauman's incident using his body camera. "This (defendant), is known for disrupting school boards' mask policy policies."
According to records, Bauman was taken into custody and booked at Broward County's main prison on one count for aggravated child abusing. He was not given bond and it wasn’t immediately clear if he retained an attorney.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of many Republican governors to have signed laws or executive orders banning the use of mask mandates. He has threatened to withhold funding to equal the salaries of these superintendents and all members of Broward and Alachua school boards, a six-figure sum in those counties, if leaders don't reverse their mask requirements.
Broward defended its position Tuesday. According to NBC Miami, state law grants the school system the authority to impose dress requirements including masks to protect students as well as staff.
