Police Fine Man €1,000 for Refusing to Put On Face Mask in Car in Bratislava

Bratislava, May 12 (TASR) – The police fined a man €1,000 for not heeding their call to put on a face mask in a car stopped for a road check in Bratislava in the wee hours of Tuesday, it was reported on the police’s Facebook page on the same day.

“Apart from the driver [who was presumably wearing a face mask or put it on upon call – ed. note], there was a passenger in the vehicle who was called by a police officer to put on a face mask. The man behaved arrogantly, however, and didn’t react to the call. He didn’t react to repeated calls from the police officer, either, disregarding them and refusing to put on a protective mask,” reported the police.

“In this regard, we warn that according to a decree of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic, it is forbidden until further notice to go out and move around in public without a cover of one’s upper air passages. This obligation does not concern minors under two years of age, persons with severe disorders of the autism spectrum, drivers of public transport in enclosed cabins and others,” wrote the police.

Nevertheless, the Public Authority Office’s decree, updated in late April, also stipulates that also exempted from the obligation to wear face masks in public are “persons in enclosed vehicles, if all persons in the car are from a single household”. The police provided no more details in this respect for this particular case, however.