Police Searching for Woman Who Purposely Coughed in Baby's Face

The San Jose Police Department is actively looking for a woman who was caught on camera purposely coughing on a 1-year-old baby, a local ABC-affiliate reports.

Police released surveillance footage that shows the woman walking over to a baby in a stroller and coughing at least two times on the infant boy while in a local Yogurtland.

"Coughing on someone's face. She did it on purpose it's not like she did it on accident, oh cough, cough - no she purposely coughed on my son's face," the child's mother, Mireya Mora, said before explaining that the woman was standing in front of her in line at the Yogurtland last Friday. Police say that the woman became agitated because she thought that Mora and her child weren't maintaining social distancing.

"It happened so quick I was in shock. She got close, she took off her mask, and she coughed three times super hard on my son's face," Mora continued.

Mora believes that the act was racially motivated, and recalls a white family that was standing in front of the suspect at a similar distance. Also, Mora claims that the harassment increased when she started talking to her grandmother—who accompanied her and her son to the Yogurtland—in Spanish.

"I believe this woman may be racist because the family in front of her is white. Me and my grandma are Hispanic and she started telling me about my distance and harassing me and my son once I started speaking Spanish to my grandma," she added.

Police are now hoping that the newly released footage will motivate witnesses to come forward so that they can identify the suspect.