Police Tasered a man after he allegedly began coughing over them after claiming he had coronavirus.
The Metropolitan Police firearms command said the man walked up to officers sitting in a car in Haringey, north London, and shouted that he was infected before deliberately coughing saliva all over them’.
He then began to physically attack the officers before he was Tasered and arrested, it was claimed yesterday. The suspect was later tested for coronavirus but came back negative.
Police today Tasered a man who allegedly coughed over them after claiming to have coronavirus. File photo
Last week director of public prosecutions Max Hill warned the public that using Covid-19 as a threat against emergency workers would be treated as a crime that could lead to up to two years behind bars.
Deliberately coughing at other key workers such as supermarket staff could be prosecuted as a common assault, which could mean up to six months in prison.
The crackdown follows numerous incidents of thugs targeting police and NHS workers with the sickening tactic.
Yesterday, a paramedic who was helping an unwell patient was coughed at by another man who was self-isolating inside a house in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
There have been numerous incidents of thugs targeting police and NHS workers with the sickening tactic. Paul Leivers (pictured), was recently jailed for a year for coughing on a paramedic
‘The man, a 43-year-old, was arrested, charged and remanded for assaulting an emergency worker by way of coughing and threatening GBH by infecting with Covid-19,’ an ambulance service spokesman said.
The arrest came after the jailing of Paul Leivers, 48, for spitting at officers while claiming to have coronavirus.
Leivers admitted two counts of assault on an emergency worker after being arrested in Mansfield on Thursday.
The court heard Leivers did not have coronavirus or any symptoms of the disease.
Sentencing the defendant, District Judge Pyle said: ‘It was in the public interest to deal with the matter sooner rather than later.
‘These are two distinct acts and it was appalling behaviour, these offences were deliberate and pre-mediated.
‘Emergency workers have a difficult job at the best of time, even more so at the minute and the court will not flinch to protect officers.’
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cooper, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘This sentence sends out a very powerful and clear message that this behaviour will not be tolerated in any shape or form and especially not now in the current climate.’
In Brighton, police were called to a report of criminal damage at a block of flats at about 5.50pm on Saturday, where they arrested Peter Davy, 65, who allegedly spat at officers.
Davy is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court today accused of three counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
He is also charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of violence; and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
In a separate incident in Salford, a hospital worker suffered a fractured cheekbone after he was punched in the face.
Greater Manchester Police said Daniel Shevlin, 27, had been charged with Section 20 assault and an offence under Section 4a of the Public Order Act after the alleged incident at Salford Royal Infirmary on Sunday.
Officers were called just before 1.50pm to reports a man had assaulted a member of NHS staff at the hospital.
The staff member – a man in his 50s – required treatment for a fractured cheekbone but has since been discharged, police said.
A force spokesman said Shevlin, of no fixed abode, had been remanded in custody and was due to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court today.