Pinellas Park, Florida game store owner was arrested for violating state and local safer-at-home orders, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.  The arrest came on Thursday after deputies observed the owner of Kitchen Table Games interacting with customers in violation of the state and local orders.  The sheriff’s office reported “numerous” complaint tips that the business was violating the order.  When the owner, Galen Wood, was warned on those earlier occasions, he would “become argumentative with deputies,” and refuse to close, according to the sheriff’s office press release.  On Thursday, Wood was taken into custody and charged.

Wood called the arrest “a show of hubris by the cops and the sheriff,” in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times after his release on bail. He pointed to a Q&A released by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ order which urged businesses to provide delivery and pickup to customers.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who was present at the arrest, demurred in his own comments to the TB Times, noting that delivery would have been OK, it was the pick-ups that got Wood into trouble.

“We’re trying to work through this together, and I think it’s very important we go to these lengths and recognize how hard it is on somebody,” Gualtieri said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve all got to follow the law, and this guy decided he’s above the law.”