Police in Connecticut arrested a man who they said allegedly spat at and used racial slurs towards a liquor store employee, after the worker asked him to adjust his face mask.
The man, Daniel Henderson, of Southington, Connecticut, was arrested on Wednesday. He was charged with second-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony and second-degree breach of peace, a misdemeanor, the Hartford Courant reported.
The alleged incident occurred at Lefty’s Package Store in Southington on April 9. The Courant reported that, according to police, Henderson wasn’t properly wearing his mask when he entered the liquor store, and became angered when the employee asked him to fix it.
Henderson “then spit towards the victim, used racial slurs towards him, and threatened to damage the property before exiting,” police said, citing accounts from witnesses.
In an interview with the Courant, Henderson said that he cursed, but didn’t use a racial slur during the incident. He said that the employee told him, “‘If I have to wear a mask, you do,'” told him to leave the store, and threw his credit card at him. He also told the newspaper that the man followed him and pushed him as he was getting into his car, causing him to fall on the ground.
Police in Meriden, Connecticut arrested Henderson Wednesday on the warrant that had been put out by police in Southington following the incident.
Angela Weiss
Newsweek reached out to the Southington Police Department for more information about the case but did not hear back before publication on Friday afternoon.
The arrest in Connecticut is one of a series of incidents in which police have accused individuals of committing crimes after they’re asked to comply with COVID-19 health measures in public.
In New York City this month, police said that a man stabbed a security guard at an Apple Store “following a dispute over wearing a mask inside the store.”
In Wisconsin, police arrested a man on October 1, after he allegedly refused to wear a mask inside a restaurant and punched a manager in the face.
In New York City, five tourists from Texas reportedly attacked a restaurant hostess who questioned the validity of their COVID-19 vaccination cards in September.
In July, the acting director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health said he was assaulted and subjected to racist abuse after speaking in favor of a mask mandate at a council meeting.
