A California sheriff said he will no longer enforce the state’s strict coronavirus lockdown.
“It’s time to get back opening up our businesses and letting our people do what our normal business activities are,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Friday on Fox News. “And you know, you just can’t arrest somebody for going out and exercising in public or not wearing a mask. You know, at the same time, they are trying to force me to release real criminals from jail. They want me to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens that are, you know, trying to support a family. It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
“You know, my job certainly is essential, but so is the job that is putting food on somebody’s table,” Bianco added. “You know, a single mom that has three jobs to support her kids — her job is more essential to her than mine is to me.”
Bianco recently made his case at a Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting held to discuss the process of reopening California’s economy.
“There cannot be a new normal. We’re talking about a country formed on the fundamental freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “Any new normal is a direct attack on those basic rights, which set us apart and make us the greatest country in the world.”
On Friday, California opened car dealerships, hiking trails, select retailers for curbside pickup and delivery, and some industrial warehouses, but the rest of the economy is expected to stay shuttered for at least two more weeks.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that California will not go “back to normal” until a coronavirus vaccine is rolled out.
Some residents across the state have started openly protesting and defying the governor’s lockdown orders.
More than 500 people stormed downtown Huntington Beach with signs criticizing Newsom. Businesses in Northern California have begun reopening in counties that are defying the state’s stay-at-home order.
