An elderly barber in Michigan has vowed to keep his doors open despite being ticketed by police for violating shutdown orders issued in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dramatic pictures show cops arriving at 77-year-old Karl Manke's barbershop in Ossowo on Wednesday, where they handed him the citation in front of a crowd of customers waiting for a haircut.
Manke now faces a $1,000 fine and possible license sanctions, but the defiant barber says he will continue to cut hair.
'I'm not going to close up unless they handcuff and carry me out of here,' he told The Associated Press.
'I'm making a living. If I have to spend it all on court costs, I'll do it. I'll recover.'
Gov Gretchen Whitmer has ordered all non-essential businesses to stay closed until at least May 15. Barbershops and salons have been shuttered across Michigan since March 21.
Manke - who has been a barber for 60 years - decided to reopen on Monday, saying six weeks without work had left him in 'despair'.
'It collapsed me, mentally, physically and spiritually,' Manke told The Lansing State Journal.
He later told Michigan Live that he had run through his credit and was having trouble accessing unemployment payments and stimulus funding.
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THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN WAY. THIS GUY IS JUST TRYING TO LIVE. MY GOD WE HAVE TO KEEP RESISTING OR GOD KNOWS WHATS NEXT