As the global health crisis continues, the debate over stay-at-home orders appears to be heating up — and one Wisconsin mom is adding some fuel to the fire. According to Amy Aries, Calumet County Sheriff's Police deputies recently knocked on her door to reprimand her for letting her daughter play at a neighbor's house. Because of Wisconsin's stay-at-home order, sheriff's police advised her to keep her 7-year-old daughter at home where she's safest. Aries felt they overstepped their bounds, and she has uploaded a video of their confrontation to Facebook, where she's accused the police of harassment. Although many have flocked to her defense, others aren't so sure her argument carries any weight.
Aries first shared the video to the Republican Party Wisconsin Facebook page.
There, it's racked up thousands of views and hundreds of comments from people all over the state.
"Someone please help me with where to get help with this!" Aries wrote in the post caption. "This happened yesterday at my home. Listen at the end when she walks away threatening me again if they see my child outside."
In the video, two deputies stand outside Aries' home. One introduces himself, and asks if she's aware of the state's stay-at-home order.
When Aries replied that she is "obviously" aware of the order, the officer asked her if she needs him to explain what that means … which is when the conversation begins to grow a bit tense.
"Okay, because I can if you need me to," the officer insisted. To that, Aries shot back that he can if he wants to, but claimed that another officer had visited her home two weeks prior and told her the order isn't being enforced.
The officer doesn't seem to buy that claim and assures her that it is -- and that they are there to enforce it.
"So why are you here?" Aries probed the officer.
“'Cause your daughter is going to play at other people's homes, and you're allowing it to happen," he told her.
Apparently, this wasn't the first time police had come by after learning that Aries' 7-year-old daughter had been regularly playing over at a neighbor's house. In doing so, she had violated the stay-at-home order — hence, the verbal warning.
In the video, Aries countered by saying that the same neighbors have been at her house, which is when the officer informed her that they've also been warned.
The mom ultimately acknowledges that she understands the order, which appears to diffuse the situation -- but only for a moment.
When the other responding officer asked for her name so they can document her acknowledgement for their records, Aries flat-out refused.
"I'd like to see the law that requires me to give you that information," Aries said.
Growing frustrated, the officer asked her for her middle initial.
"I don't believe that I'm required to give that to you," Aries responded.
"Like, why be immature and play games?" the officer responded in exasperation.
"Because I believe this is harassment," Aries told her.
In the Facebook comments, many people immediately agreed with Aries that the cops were acting out of line by showing up at her home.
"I'd feel unsafe and threatened if those two ever harassed me," one person said.
"Don't answer questions," another skeptic told her.
One person told her to "go to the sheriff’s office right away and pick up a complaint form naming the two officers and complain of the harassment."
Others weren't so quick to hop on the bandwagon -- and suggested there was likely more to the story.
Indeed, there might be.
According to a police department statement obtained by Inside Edition, Aries is known to police.
"What this video does not show is that this is the fifth contact we've had with this female in recent weeks," the statement read.
It was also the second point of contact cops had with Aries that same day.
At one point in the video, the female officer told the mom that it's never a good idea to interrupt and confront law enforcement when they are in the middle of responding to a situation. It seems that the police were actually responding to a call at the neighbor's home just moments before, which is when Aries' daughter called her and she came over to retrieve her.
According to the female officer, Aries was confrontational when she arrived, and whatever was said clearly prompted them to follow up at her home.
"It amazes me how easily some of you choose a side with almost zero knowledge," one person wrote. "Clearly more to this story but you guys go ahead and get your militias rallied together. Absolutely disgusting."
"You and your child might not be sick, but you don't know what is brought into her friend's home," another person pointed out. "The cops are doing their job. They risk their lives every day to protect selfish disrespectful people like this. If your kid gets sick you have no one to blame but yourself."
The debate over whether stay-at-home orders have gone too far has been a constant point of contention in many Midwest states.
It's been especially tense in Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has extended the order to last through May 15. In response, protests have been waged throughout the state, but the governor has insisted the measures are for the safety of the people.
"We will consider this the preliminary stage of economic reengagement," [Whitmer said at a press conference April 24](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/politics/gretchen-whitmer-michigan-stay-at-home/index.April 24). "If we continue to see our numbers decline, we can responsibly consider additional steps we can take. If we see an increase, we may have to be nimble enough to go backward on occasion."
Protests have been reported in other states too — such as Idaho, where a mother was arrested last month after refusing to leave a playground that had been closed.
“I didn’t wake up today thinking, 'I’m taking my kids to the park to get arrested' — but when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty!" Brady told supporters after her release. “We have a duty to stand up to tyranny, or we’re gonna lose our republic."
The trouble is, governors in many states have remained cautious about reopening due to fears of a spike in virus cases.
That applies to both reopening businesses and relaxing social distancing guidelines, which people like Aries seem to contest.
"The math is unfortunately pretty simple. It’s not a matter of whether infections will increase but by how much,” Jeffrey Shaman, a leading epidemiologist at Columbia University, told the Washington Post last month.
That's something that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has openly discussed in his daily press briefings.
"There is a question that is being debated right under the surface,” he said Tuesday. “The fundamental question, which we are not articulating, is, ‘How much is a human life worth?’
"The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost," he continued. "But the higher the human cost, because the more lives lost. That, my friends, is the decision we are really making. A human life is priceless. Period."
