The father of a child at a Vail Unified School District elementary school in Arizona, threatened the school principal with a citizen’s arrest while carrying zip ties because his child was told to quarantine.
According to a local NBC affiliate, KVOA, a student at Mesquite Elementary School was asked to quarantine after he came in close contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19.
After hearing the request for his child to quarantine the father, identified as Rishi Rambaran, 40, showed up at the school with the child and two other men, local business owner Kelly Walker and an unidentified man, on Thursday to protest the quarantine policy. They told the school’s principal Diane Vargo that they would call local law enforcement or conduct a citizen’s arrest if the child was not allowed to immediately return to school.
The men were wielding zip ties which were clearly seen when Walker livestreamed the confrontation on his business account, according to KVOA.
School officials say Vargo invited the men to her office to listened to their concerns. Following the conversation, she asked them to leave the school grounds. They refused but eventually left before police arrived.
“Today was a tough day,” The District’s Superintendent John Carruth said. “One of the most powerful tools as adults is the behavior that we model to young people — and the behavior that was modeled today makes me really sad.”
VUSD said Vargo was not harmed in the incident.
The Vail School District’s COVID policy follows public health guidance issued by Pima County, which requires students to quarantine at home for at least a week after exposure.
Rambaran was taken into custody about two hours after the incident, and was later released. Officers confirmed to the Daily Beast that more arrests could be made. The police showed up at Walker’s coffee shop after the incident, but he ducked them and wrote on Instagram, “Come back with a warrant,” the Daily Beast reports.
Updated to include the names of the men and livestream.
