Surgeon General Jerome Adams has pleaded not guilty after he was cited by police in Honolulu last August for being in a park that was closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Adams and his aide, Dennis Anderson-Villaluz, both pleaded not guilty Monday, according to the Associated Press. The two were seen by officers taking photos inside Kualoa Regional Park during a trip to Hawaii in August. All parks in Honolulu had been closed to keep people from gathering together during the pandemic.
"It's an embarrassment to the state," Adams' attorney, Michael Green, said following the hearing. "They're treating him like he brought the pandemic here."
He added, "I'm not suggesting for a minute that because he's the surgeon general . . . his rights are any greater than other citizen, but he shouldn't be treated worse because of that status. And that's exactly what they're doing."
A spokesperson for Honolulu's prosecuting attorney's office said in a statement: "No one is given special treatment under the law regardless of who they are. All defendants have the same right to due process as anyone else."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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