SPOKANE, Wash. — A man is facing several felony assault charges after he allegedly coughed on two officers with the Spokane Police Department during his sister's arrest.
The incident marks at least the second time a person has faced assault charges for intentionally coughing on authorities in the Inland Northwest and illustrates a growing problem nationwide.
At about noon on Wednesday, Spokane police received a tip that 22-year-old Shayden Macri had an arrest warrant and was at a home in the 4200 block of South Scott Street. Officers found her hiding in a bedroom closet.
As officers began to take Shayden into custody, she began to scream for her brother, Tanner. Police said Tanner came downstairs toward the two officers detaining his sister and intentionally coughed in each of their faces.
He then tried to do this again after officers arrested him and were escorting him to a patrol car, according to police.
Tanner Macri, 21, was booked into jail for two counts of third-degree assault on law enforcement, one for each officer. His sister, Shayden, was booked on her misdemeanor warrant and as a fugitive for a warrant out of Idaho.
"The current health crisis we all face as a community due to COVID-19 is something the Spokane Police take very seriously. By staying home, only going out for essential needs and business, and using social distancing, we can all flatten the curve," SPD wrote in a statement.
On April 1, Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies responded to Super One in Hayden for reports of a shoplifter. They said the man was uncooperative, gave a false name and was a registered sex offender out of Oregon who had not yet registered in Kootenai County.
According to the sheriff's office, the man told deputies he was sick and began coughing. Deputies told him several times not to cough in their direction before he began "purposefully coughing in their faces from less than a foot away."
The man was arrested for burglary, failure to registered as a sex offender, providing false information and battery of an officer, according to the sheriff's office. He was also cited and released for theft.
Similar instances have happened around the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Associated Press reports that a Florida man was also charged with aggravated assault this week after allegedly coughing on a cashier and claiming that social distancing precautions for the coronavirus pandemic are “getting out of hand," according to a police report.
A Texas man is also facing charges for terroristic threats after he allegedly coughed in the faces of five Verizon employees this week.
In New Jersey, a man is facing a terrorism charge after he allegedly coughed on a grocery store employee and claimed he had coronavirus.