A man was arrested “for wearing a T-shirt that says ‘We The People’ and has a picture of the ‘Statue of Liberty.’”
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No, this man wasn’t arrested for wearing a shirt that said 'We The People'
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- A man was removed from a meeting in handcuffs after refusing to comply with a Utah Senate committee’s decorum rules; the rules required that he remove a sticker supporting a bill under consideration. He wasn’t arrested because his T-shirt said "We The People."
In a video shared on Facebook, a man can be seen in a confrontation with troopers while the people seated around them wonder about what’s happening.
"Is this what tyranny looks like?" someone can be heard asking.
"His shirt says ‘We The People,’ please tell me the problem," someone else says. "With the Statue of Liberty."
One account sharing the video wrote, "Arrested for wearing a T-shirt that says ‘We The People’ and has a picture of the ‘Statue of Liberty.’"
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
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The footage was taken at the beginning of a March 1 meeting of the Utah Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, which was considering HB 60, a bill that would ban COVID-19 vaccine passports.
The man wasn’t removed because of his T-shirt, news reports said. He was removed for not complying with an order to remove a sticker he was wearing.
Committee chair Sen. Dan McCay warned people attending the meeting about breaking rules of decorum, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. McCay said the committee didn’t allow "posters," "stickers," "outbursts or demonstrations" and then waited for people to remove pro-HB60 stickers that said "Vote yes on HB60."
The man wearing the "We The People" T-shirt refused to remove his sticker, and "after a few moments of asking the man to leave," a CBS News affiliate reported, "troopers handcuffed the man and took him out of the room" for not complying with the request. Two other people were later kicked out for yelling at McCay.
The man who was escorted out was cited with disrupting a public meeting and released from custody.
Claims that the man was arrested due to the shirt he was wearing are wrong and don’t tell the whole story. We rate them False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, March 16, 2022
SENATE REVENUE AND TAXATION STANDING COMMITTEE, DRAFT MINUTES, March 1, 2022
H.B. 60 Vaccine Passport Amendments, visited March 23, 2022
KJZZ14, VIDEO: UHP troopers remove man from 'vaccine passport' hearing in handcuffs, March 1, 2022
Daniel Woodruff tweets, March 1, 2022
KUTV, Senate president calls incident 'unfortunate' that led to man getting arrested, cited, March 2, 2022
The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah Senate leaders call for civility after man was removed from a committee hearing in handcuffs, March 3, 2022
The Salt Lake Tribune, Ban on vaccine passports advances following rowdy hearing, March 1, 2022
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No, this man wasn’t arrested for wearing a shirt that said 'We The People'
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