Coronavirus: Man filmed wiping face on shop worker after being told to wear mask, police say

‘Here, I’ll just use this’, shopper says during encounter, according to police

A man has been arrested in Michigan after CCTV footage showed him wiping his face on a dollar tree worker after being told to wear a mask, police say.

Holly Department Police said that a man entered a Dollar Tree store on Saginaw St on Saturday without a face covering, despite a statewide order mandating residents to wear masks in enclosed public spaces.

CCTV footage released by police shows a man walk back over to the employee, where he appears to wipe his face on her T-shirt.

According to police, the employee had told the man he needed to wear a face mask to remain in the store.

The man allegedly responded by saying, “here, I’ll just use this as a mask,” before wiping his nose and face on the shirt, leaving behind “bodily fluids”, Holly Police Chief Jerry Narsh told CNN.

The man continued to be disruptive in the store before leaving, according to police. He reportedly did not come into contact with any other employees while he was in the store.

Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper told CNN that 68-year-old Rex Howard Gomoll of Linden is facing misdemeanour charges of assault and battery.

Holly Police Department said on Monday that an arrest had been made regarding the incident but they did not disclose the identity of the suspect in a post on Facebook.

“Thank you to all who shared this post, a viewer tip assisted investigators in determining the identity of the suspect,” police said after sharing the security footage online in an attempt to find the culprit.

Michigan currently has more than 43,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 4,000 deaths as of Wednesday.

“We are appreciative of the work of the Holly Police Department in seeing this man’s irresponsible and unacceptable behaviour toward our associate was addressed promptly,” Randy Guiler, vice president of investor relations at Dollar Tree Inc told CNN in a statement.