When officers confronted him and escorted him out of the park, he exclaimed, "I paid $15,000. You can't trespass me if I paid $15,000."
All Kelly Sills wanted to do was enjoy Disney World with his family. But the Louisiana man ended up arrested after he skipped a temperature screening required of guests at the amusement park, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Sills, 47, was taken into police custody on Feb. 13 after he allegedly "refused" to get his temperature taken by amusement park security, according to a criminal complaint. A security manager reportedly gave the man the option of returning to get his temperature taken and be admitted entrance to the park, but Sills refused.
An off-duty officer, who turned his bodycam on, was called to the scene and informed Sills that he was "no longer welcome at the park" and was asked to leave.
"We are going to escort you out now," the officer said. "You are officially being trespassed."
Sills, who traveled from Baton Rouge with his family, told officers who later confronted him at a Disney Springs restaurant that he spent "$15,000" on the trip, according to bodycam footage.
"You can't trespass me if I paid $15,000," he said.
Sills was arrested and charged with trespassing on property after warning, according to a court order at the Orange County court. He pleaded not guilty. A virtual pre-trial hearing was held Monday, records show.
"Covid is a very serious thing, but so is a vacation with my family," he said in an interview with the Washington Post. He told the outlet that he would have "happily" consented to a temperature screening. He claimed to not have "realized his error" when he inadvertently walked into the park through an exit.
He said the security manager escalated the conflict and partly blames him for the incident. He also admitted he was in a "bit of a mood" after a day of travel, he told the outlet, adding that two hotel rooms, air travel, and admission to the parks for seven to eight people were a financial load.
In a call Tuesday with Inside Edition Digital, Sills' attorney, Michael Zmijewski, said that his client was "tested twice within a couple of hours from each other" the same day he was arrested.
He also added that this was "not a political statement" on his client's behalf. "It was a dad who traveled halfway across the country with family and was looking forward to starting vacation."
A Disney spokeswoman told the Post that incidences like this one are rare and that guests have been "overwhelmingly supportive of our protocols."
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