Law enforcement has launched a 'thorough investigation' into a Californian man accused of spitting on kids for wearing masks.
The unnamed man, who's been pictured wearing a shirt which reads, 'Your mask makes you look stupid', has been allegedly harassing children in La Crescenta for wearing face masks over the past month. One some occasions, he's followed middle and elementary school students to harass them for longer, coughing and even spitting on them, parents have said.
He was caught on camera in a cark park near Rosemont Middle School, swearing and mocking children for wearing masks, and he's been known for going to local schools and describing the mask mandate as 'child abuse'.
In the video in question, as detailed by The Daily Beast, the man says, 'Stay scared. Keep your masks on that don’t even work!' One of the students shouts back, 'We’re 13!'
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When an adult tries to intervene, he angrily retorts, 'Look at this grown man with a mask on. What a fricken coward. What a total p*ssy... where’d you buy your mask? The stupid store?' He then storms off after calling them a 'bunch of idiots'.
'[The kids] were obviously getting scared. He was getting three to five inches away and coughing in their faces,' one parent told CBS Los Angeles.
'Clearly there is a problem here, not just a mental health problem but an anger management issue where he feels compelled to attack people who are more vulnerable than him,' another parent said.
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One of the parents confronted the man after he was seen shouting at kids and coughing in their faces, but a deputy's arrival at the scene did little to help, they said, reprimanding the children instead. 'He decided to lecture the kids about freedom of speech instead of taking their names and writing an incident report,' the parent recalled.
After parents gathered outside Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station earlier this week, a statement was issued promising a 'thorough investigation' into the allegations.
'Crescenta Valley Station is aware of a video circulating on social media regarding a dispute between an anti-mask adult and others over the masking of children. The incident appears to have occurred off school grounds sometime last week,' police said.
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Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lt. Robert Hahnlein also said, 'I have sympathy for the parents. If my kids were there when this happened, I would be upset too and I would want something done.'
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Topics: US News, Coronavirus