These days, people throwing fits over having to wear a face covering aren’t uncommon.
A new incident in a Tucson, Arizona grocery shop—specifically a Sprouts—has gone viral after a man, who has a tantrum about mask requirements, is carried out of the store by a younger gentleman, who is reportedly his son.
In the video, an older man spews hateful rhetoric and uses the R-word repeatedly. When the man gets in another person's face, the son gets in between the man and the workers and customers. At one point, the son motions for the man to leave, but he refuses, and the son starts to push the man back. The man fights back before another young man also intervenes. The son then successfully pushes the man towards the exit door, before literally picking him up by the waist and carrying him over the threshold and outside.
As confrontations like these have continuously taken place across the country over the last few months, one state has decided to do something about it. Illinois has now made it a felony to assault workers trying to enforce mask-wearing policies. Anyone who assaults an employee can be prosecuted for aggravated battery, which is usually a felony in the state.
The new law arrives as incidents between workers and customers have become even more contentious. Recent episodes include a Staples customer attacking an older customer in New Jersey, a confrontation between a Ralphs employee and customer in Los Angeles, which involved pepper spray; and a woman allegedly urinating in a California Verizon store.
