New Jersey Slaps Terror Charge on Man Over Alleged Supermarket Cough Threat
A New Jersey man has been charged with making terroristic threats after he was accused of coughing on a supermarket employee and saying he was infected with the coronavirus behind the ongoing pandemic, authorities said Tuesday.
George Falcone, 50, was issued a summons for terroristic threats in the third degree and other charges over the incident, according to the office of New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
In a Facebook message to Reuters on Tuesday, Falcone denied the accusations, saying, "Didn't cough on anyone and never mentioned corona."
According to Grewal, Falcone was in a Wegman's supermarket in Manalapan, New Jersey on Sunday evening when an employee asked him to step back from prepared foods while she covered them. Instead, prosecutors said, he leaned toward her and purposely coughed, laughing and saying he was infected with the coronavirus, which causes a respiratory illness known as COVID-19 that can be severe or fatal.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/24/us/24reuters-health-coronavirus-usa-crime.html