A man faces charges after causing a disturbance at a Circle K store, according to police.

Nikolas L. Pearson was charged with trespassing third degree and refusing to provide his name while detained after the Feb. 2 incident at the convenience store at North John Wayne Parkway and Bowlin Road, police said.

According to a probable cause statement, Pearson and another man, who was not ultimately charged, were observed by officers in the store not wearing masks and recording on their cellphones. Store employees had asked the pair to leave as they were disturbing customers and not wearing masks.

Police told the men they were trespassing and needed to leave the property, but they refused. Officers walked out of the store with Pearson and the other man, but the men stopped outside the entry doors and refused to leave, police said. An officer advised the men they were being detained and asked to see their identification, but they refused to identify themselves, police said.

Multiple officers on the scene advised both men several times they would be arrested if they refused to provide their name while being detained, the probable cause statement said.

At that point, the other man identified himself with his Arizona driver’s license, but Pearson continued to refuse to provide his name. He was advised again that he would be arrested if he continued to refuse.

At about 7:35 p.m., Pearson was arrested and booked into Pinal County Jail, police said.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Just to set the record straight. Mr. Pearson was invited to stay in side the store until the Police arrived. When the Officer asked the clerk if she wanted him to leave she said “No, he needs to wear a mask”. The Police Officer continued to solicit a trespass by continuing to ask the same question.Circle K never called the Police or pressed charges for trespassing in the 3rd degree; lets look at the statute, shall we:

    13-1502. Criminal trespass in the third degree; classification
    A. A person commits criminal trespass in the third degree by:
    1. Knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by a law enforcement officer, the owner or any other person having lawful control over such property, or reasonable notice prohibiting entry.
    2. Knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on the right-of-way for tracks, or the storage or switching yards or rolling stock of a railroad company.
    B. Pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 1 of this section, a request to leave by a law enforcement officer acting at the request of the owner of the property or any other person having lawful control over the property has the same legal effect as a request made by the property owner or other person having lawful control of the property.
    C. Criminal trespass in the third degree is a class 3 misdemeanor.
    1- Did not knowing stay when asked toleave (was never askerd to leave).
    2- No railroad tracks that I’m aware of.
    B- To my knowledge the owner never requested the Police to remove Mr. Pearson from the Real Property or gave the Police lawful control of the property.

    So, if there was no trespass, he couldn’t be lawfully detained and would not be under suspicion of a crime, therefore not required to identify himself.

    The Police are the ones that caused the disturbance at Circle K that evening, and should be ashamed of themselves for escalating instead of de-escalating the situation. Regardless of your stance on the mask, it is considered a medical device and no PERSON has the authority to mandate such a device. The Police should have informed the clerk that there was no mandate for masks in the State of Arizona, and although the may refuse service, the customer could file a criminal complaint and tried to have the two parties work it out. The Maricopa Police Dept. handled this situation completely opposite of what they are supposedly trained to do… Pathetic in the least. To my knowledge, there is no law against arguing with a Police Officer, and these six or seven armed kidnappers were plain and simple butt hurt, and let emotion take over there sworn duty to protect Mr. Pearson right to choose not to wear a mask. The Police never even addressed the mask, EVER during this situation. They acted like a bunch of thugs.

    You should probably get your facts straight as a reporter. All you did was copy a fraudulent Police report. Hope you feel good about yourselves for putting a 7 year veteran who fought to defend your Civil Liberties, just so you could violate his.