Drunk Florida man spits on child for wearing a mask and refusing to shake his hand: ‘You now have coronavirus’
TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA: A man is facing charges for allegedly assaulting a kid at a restaurant for wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic. Jason Copenhaver allegedly spat on the unnamed boy because he apparently wanted the victim to be infected with Covid-19. The 47-year-old accused has now been charged with simple battery and disorderly conduct over the incident that allegedly happened at Ricky T's Bar & Grille in Treasure Island on Sunday night, August 2.
According to reports, Copenhaver first approached the child and asked him to remove his mask and shake hands with him. But when the boy rejected his requests, he grabbed him by his arm and got close to his face so that his spit hit the victim. Police said the suspect told the child, “You now have coronavirus."
His arrest affidavit stated that he was "intoxicated" and shoeless. After the alleged incident, Copenhaver entered the bar area of the restaurant and approached an employee in a “threatening manner and attempted to strike him twice." The worker then took the "physical control" of Copenhaver, walked him outside the restaurant, and did not let him go until the police arrived.
Meanwhile, reports said that the boy whose age is not known has not been tested to find if he got infected with the deadly virus. In addition, police said Copenhaver told them he has no idea if he has coronavirus, and has never been tested. In another incident, bachelorettes celebrating a party has been accused of defying Covid-19 restrictions in a Nashville restaurant while one of them even coughed thrice on an employee. Mikey Corona, co-owner of The Mockingbird, said that they have filed a police report against the group of women for their unpleasant behavior.
Corona warned other restaurants by posting about the alleged incident on a Facebook group called Nashville Hospitality Professionals (NHP). He wrote: “Nashville Hospitality Peeps! Be on the lookout for a group of 10 bachelorettes tonight (Friday, August 1st, 2020 around 8:15 pm - made a call ahead under the name MEAGAN CROOK) that came in to our restaurant and threw a fit because we couldn’t sit them at one long continuous table due to phase 2 restrictions (no more than 6 guests per table). They even began to defy the rules and pull the tables together themselves. After we told them we can be reported for violating this condition of Nashville’s Phase 2, they got up and stormed out-most not wearing a mask as they left (and even arguing with other tables as they even were telling them to put their masks on), but before they left one of them that refused to wear their mask on the way out turned her head and coughed a few times on one of our team members.”
He also spoke with NewsChannel and said they love “tourists because that's what helps keep us alive. Please come, but when you come in here with your bedazzled cowboy boots and stomp all over us like some mat, that's not okay. We are here to show you a good time."