A shopper in a New Jersey Staples store was caught on video throwing another woman — who was using a cane — to the floor after the victim told her to socially distance because she wasn't correctly wearing her mask over her nose, the New York Post reported. The paper added that the victim suffered a broken leg in the incident Wednesday afternoon in Hackensack.
What are the details?
Surveillance video shows the unknown assailant improperly wearing a mask and walking up to a 54-year-old woman who was using a copy machine, police told the Post.
Cops said the victim told the improperly masked woman to either back up or put on her mask correctly, the paper noted. Her mask wasn't covering her nose, just her mouth.
The 54-year-old woman also raised her cane and pointed at the assailant, who had been pointing her finger repeatedly at the victim during the exchange.
Apparently that set off the assailant, who grabbed the victim by her wrist and threw her to the floor several feet away. The assailant also knocked over a large transparent divider.
Immediately afterward, video shows the assailant casually flipping her hair off her shoulder and proceeding with her business. As the victim is on the ground, apparently pleading for help, three other customers and two employees simply stand in place and watch.
Another employee arrives and seems to communicate with a walkie talkie, but he doesn't go near the injured victim, who by now is waving her hand at the staff for assistance.
The assailant appears again in the video frame, and victim attempts to kick at her as she walks by to no avail.
Police released a video of the attack Friday and are asking for the public's help to identify the assailant, the Post reported.
Crazy times
Mask-related altercations amid the COVID-19 pandemic are nothing new — but the physical aggressors are usually the ones upset at folks not wearing masks.
Earlier this month, an attacking woman's behavior went viral after she reportedly pepper sprayed a couple having a picnic in a San Diego dog park — allegedly because they weren't wearing face masks while eating their lunch.
Also, a California Lyft rider reportedly attacked her driver and spat at him after the Lyft driver requested that she wear a face mask.
Two men allegedly attacked a security guard at a Target store in May after they refused to wear a face mask.
A viral video this week showed a woman enraged that small children were not wearing face masks. She told the children: "I hope you all die!"
