Maskless men claiming to have COVID-19 allegedly cough on items in Blaine grocery store
Two men were prohibited from entering the Blaine Cost Cutter again after they reportedly went inside the grocery store without face coverings, claimed to have COVID-19, coughed on items throughout the store and became confrontational when they were asked to leave.
Blaine police officers were called to the store shortly after 3 p.m. July 18, according to the department’s incident log.
The manager told officers that two people were not wearing face masks, made inappropriate comments to other people, claimed to have been infected with coronavirus and coughed throughout the store, according to the log.
As of July 7, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered businesses in Washington state to require customers and visitors to wear a face covering. Businesses also are required to post signage reminding customers and clients to wear a mask.
When the store manager asked the men to leave and attempted to escort them out, one of the suspects threatened to physically assault the manager, officer Timothy Richardson told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
The men had already left the store when officers arrived, and their car could not be located, according to the log.
Store management refused to press charges, Richardson told The Herald, but police were able to contact one of the men by phone to inform him that he had been barred from entering the store.
At 4:35 p.m. the same day, police were again sent to the store for the report of a woman who had called to harass store employees after her husband and son had been banned from the store, the log reported. She also reportedly said that she had purchased an item from the store that made her ill.
The woman called four times and threatened legal action, Richardson reported, who added that the calls were related to the earlier incident. She also was barred from the store by police.
In a separate incident July 20, Blaine police were contacted by a woman who wanted to file a complaint against a business in the 200 block of H Street that she said was not abiding by the face-covering ordinance, according to the incident log.
An officer contacted the business, which already had posted a sign stating that mask wearing was mandatory for patrons.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 8:14 AM.
