AZ father threatens principal with citizens arrest after being told his son needs to quarantine

An enraged father named Rishi Rambaran and two other men in Tucson, Arizona cornered a grade school principal and threatened her with zip ties and citizen’s arrest over his son being quarantined due to COVID protocols.

The confrontation was recorded on video by the men as they marched into the principal’s office at the Mesquite Elementary School after school administrators said Rambaran’s son had to quarantine for a week after coming into contact with another student who tested positive for COVID-19, according to KOLD.com.

The father stated in his video that it is illegal for the school to force his son into quarantine. He told the principal if she insisted on the quarantine, she was going to have a “big problem.”

“One of the other individuals, not the parent, brought flex cuffs with them to the front office when they entered the office and their demand was that quarantine was illegal and that if the child was not allowed to resume normal school that they would make a citizen’s arrest,” Superintendent John Carruth told The Washington Post in an interview.

(Video Credit: Daily Mail)

A man named Kelly Walker videoed the entire incident. He owns Viva Coffee in Tucson.

Walker stated on the video that they were planning on “confronting” Principal Diane Vargo for breaking multiple state laws that caused a “major disturbance to a family.” He also said that they would call the sheriff on school officials if she didn’t comply. They then threatened to make a citizen’s arrest since they contended that school administrators have no right to “take the law into their hands.”

Walker also asserted that he is against quarantining “healthy” children because it fosters fear and “denies them an education.” He claimed it “imposes on the lives of parents who have to work.”

He showed a number of “law enforcement zip ties” in the video.

“We’re just coming in to talk first but our public officials need to know we mean business,” Walker declared.

The men confronted both Vargo and her assistant and one of them told her, “If you insist on this, I’ll have you arrested.”

“We’re ready to make a citizen’s arrest if necessary,” one of the men informed her. He told her that this is “discrimination” and said they are bullying children and families.

“There will be no arrests here occurring on the Mesquite campus,” Vargo stated.

Superintendent John Carruth told the Washington Post that after the men threatened to arrest Vargo, she told them to leave. When they refused, she left her office and called the police.

They reportedly left the school grounds before the police arrived. No one was hurt in the incident.

Carruth stated he knows tensions are high but that this went too far.

“We work really hard to try to resolve concerns that parents have and this has absolutely been a difficult and challenging 18 months and I understand when people become frustrated and understand when sometimes we can’t come to a solution that’s agreeable with everybody. But there is ways to resolve this that don’t involve this and that just has no place on a school campus at all,’ he told KOLD.com.

“He had video in my face, and two other men barged into my office. And one of them was carrying zip ties. … They were three big men. I was scared. My assistant was scared,” Vargo recounted.

“My door is open to talk to parents. But the way he did it was not OK,” she told NBC News. “Bringing zip ties to a principal’s office — that’s not OK.”

(Video Credit: 12 News)

The Tucson Police Department claims that in order to conduct a citizen’s arrest, the suspect must have committed a misdemeanor amounting to a breach of the peace, or a felony. And when a felony has been committed, the person must have reasonable proof that it occurred.

Rambaran has since been arrested for threatening the principal. He was cited and released for trespassing on school grounds. The aggrieved father plans to file a lawsuit against the school district.

Vargo said police have cited the others for trespassing. “I am also looking to file a restraining order against all three men,” she contended, according to Fox5.

The father found sympathy on social media for his actions:

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