A Cambria woman is scheduled to be arraigned in Niagara Falls City Court later this month after police reported she refused to leave a store after refusing to wear a mask.
Patricia A. Elstrodt, 61, was charged with two misdemeanors — resisting arrest and trespassing — and disorderly conduct, a violation, according to Niagara Falls police reports.
The incident happened around 10:45 a.m. Nov. 30 in the Spectrum store on Military Road in the Falls, according to a police report.
Police received a report of a woman inside the store who refused to wear a mask and refused to leave after being asked by staff, according to the incident report.
The first officer to arrive at the scene was told by staff at the store they wanted the woman, later identified as Elstrodt, off the premises. The store was refusing service because the woman “could not follow safety guidelines,” according to the report.
When the officer approached Elstrodt, she “refused to listen to this officer and began singing ‘Merry Christmas’ and making unreasonable noise,” the officer wrote in the report.
When the officer tried walking Elstrodt out of the store, “she tensed up,” according to the report.
That’s when Elstrodt laid on the ground. The officer placed a handcuff around her right wrist. Elstrodt then “curled up” and had her left hand wrapped around her cable box, according to the report.
When a second officer arrived, Elstrodt “continued to resist,” and officers had to place her hand behind her back after standing her up.
Elstrodt could not be reached to comment Monday morning.
Elstrodt’s Facebook page includes dozens of posts that downplay or reject the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic, including several individual posts labeled by Facebook as containing false information.
Several posts, including many shared but not originally authored by Elstrodt, are skeptical about the development of a Covid-19 vaccine. One post she recently shared, which questions the speed at which a vaccine was developed, includes the statement, “I think I’ll pass on that shot!!”
In a Facebook post published Monday morning, Elstrodt shared her own post from Friday, in which she lists “gym,” “friends” and “cocktail parties,” and says, “I want my LIFE BACK.”
Elstrodt, whose arrest was first reported by the Niagara Gazette, is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in Niagara Falls City Court on Dec. 29.
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