Maskless protest at North Star Mall ends with one arrest

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) -Just as phones were buzzing in San Antonio and Bexar County with a Wireless Emergency Alert concerning the rise in coronavirus cases Tuesday evening, a group gathered at North Star Mall to protest the mask requirement.

A shopper told KTSA News that she heard some people yelling at the protesters and mall security stepped in to separate the groups.  A preliminary report by the San Antonio Police Department states that the protesters who refused to face masks “were given a criminal trespass warning and told to leave the property.”  The report further states that a man “who was attempting to escalate the situation” was taken into custody, but the other participants left without further incident.

A video posted on Facebook by Jason Frank shows mall security officers and an off-duty San Antonio police officer struggling with 39-year-old Eric Matthew Braden as he shouts,”I’m a disabled veteran of the United States Army.”  A woman is heard yelling at officers to “get off of him.” At one point, some of the protesters started singing the National Anthem.

Braden was arrested and charged with criminal trespass-private property.  SAPD says he was taken to University Hospital by EMS “with complaints of a pre-existing back injury.”