Cops Charge Zip-Tie Guys Who Ambushed School Principal Over COVID Rules

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

All three members of an Arizona trio who barged into an elementary school principal’s office with zip ties and threatened to place her under citizens’ arrest for following public health guidelines have instead been arrested themselves, the Tucson Police Department confirmed.

“58-year-old Frank Tainatongo was cited and released for misdemeanor trespassing yesterday,” Tucson PD spokesman Sgt. Richard Gradillas told The Daily Beast. “He would be the third person cited and released related to this incident.”

Last week, Tainatongo accompanied marketing strategist and coffee shop owner Kelly Walker, 51, and Rishi Rambaran, 40, as Rambaran accosted Principal Diane Vargo while she sat with another educator at Tucson’s Mesquite Elementary School. Rambaran's son had been told by the school to mask up and quarantine after reportedly being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Walker livestreamed the confrontation on his shop’s Instagram. In the footage, Tainatongo, who remained unidentified until today, could be seen standing in the doorway holding multiple pairs of “law enforcement-grade” zip ties. The video has since been deleted.

“When this kind of coercion and bullying is perpetrated by school administrators, breaking the law, a citizen’s arrest is an option worth looking into,” Walker wrote on Facebook last Thursday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/cops-charge-men-ambushed-school-212441121.html

[Make7]

1. Good. ( n/t )

[2naSalit]

2. No, it is not worth considering.

It is wrong and against our laws and values as described in our social contract as citizens.

[empedocles]

3. 'Zip tagss' ? Seems like a threat. 'Criminal trsspass' is interesting.

'On Monday, Tainatongo was booked on a charge of third-degree criminal trespass, the same charge leveled at Walker and Rambaran. If convicted, all three face up to 30 days in jail.'

[SledDriver]

4. Trespassing? How about attempted kidnapping?

"If convicted, all three face up to 30 days in jail."

30 days? How about 30 months?

[crickets]

6. +1

[llmart]

5. Didn't she also receive death threats when she got home?

I only caught part of the clip on this morning's news. I wonder if they'd have done that if the principle was a big, strapping man.

[Scrivener7]

7. Misdemeanor trespassing??? WTF??? Or 3rd degree criminal trespass with a penalty of 30 days in

jail. Damn. That was a threat to kidnap that woman. You don't wave zip ties around unless you are threatening abduction. And they're going to get a maximum of 30 days?

What the hell is going on?

[lagomorph777]

8. They live-streamed their crime, and got released?

WTF? I used to think Tucson was a nice place.

[Kali]

9. lotta wingnuts in that area

Rita Ranch - big stucco and pink tile roof ugliness on the SE side of Tucson. lots of out of stater repukes.