Don Sweeney
The Sacramento Bee
A school employee has been identified as the woman who purposely coughed in a baby’s face at a San Jose, California, yogurt shop, says the Oak Grove School District.
“We are aware of an incident allegedly involving one of our employees who was videotaped coughing on a baby at a local eatery,” a statement by Superintendent Jose L. Manzo says.“The employee is currently off of work and not providing any services to our District students.”
No arrest has been made and district officials are cooperating with police, the statement says.
Security camera video at a Yogurtland shop in San Jose, California, shows a woman pointing angrily at a baby in a stroller who was in line behind her.
Then the woman pulls down her face mask and repeatedly coughs forcefully in the baby’s face before walking away, the video shows.
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“It happened so quick I was in shock,” said MIreya Mora, the baby’s mother, KGO reported. “She got close, she took off her mask, and she coughed three times super hard on my son’s face.”
San Jose police are seeking the woman on suspicion of assault in the incident, which took place at 5:25 p.m. on June 12 at the Yogurtland at 5638 Cottle Road, a release says.
The woman had reportedly accused Mora and her baby of not following social distancing rules while in line, police said in the release.
“She coughed on him super-hard. It wasn’t an accident,” said Mora, reported The Washington Post. “A person with a heart that cares would not do that to a baby.”
But Mora, who is Hispanic, says she suspects racism because the woman only became upset when she began speaking to her grandmother in Spanish, KGO reported.
The Oak Grove School District in San Jose serves more than 9,800 students. It has 14 elementary schools and three intermediate schools. About a third of its students are learning English as a second language.
Police asked that anyone with information on the incident contact detective Dan Bowman at 408-277-4161. Anonymous tips can be left on the Crime Stoppers Tip Line, 408-947-7867.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has issued a mandatory face mask order in the state, where COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising, The Sacramento Bee reported.
More than 9.4 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 483,000 deaths as of Thursday, June 25, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2.3 million confirmed cases with more than 121,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
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