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Woman Throws Hot Coffee at Maskless Man, Then a Bloody Brawl Breaks Out

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So you’ve spotted someone out in public without a mask and you’ve decided it’s high time to confront them. Good for you. If you believe they’re jeopardizing your physical safety by going out without the proper facial covering, they need to be called out.

This is the kind of thing America needs more of right now. Once you properly chastise them, there’s little doubt they’ll put on that mask.

I could probably give you a panoply of tips to make sure the repartee works out well. Among my first suggestions would be this one: Don’t assault the mask-shirker.

Now, normally I’d assume this would be self-evident. If you’re outraged that someone isn’t wearing a mask — and that they might physically harm you or others by spreading a pathogen — it doesn’t enhance your argument if you’re going to put them in physical danger yourself. It’s one thing to go a-Karening, but it’s quite another to hurt someone because of the minute chance they might give someone, including you, COVID-19.

But no. This is 2020, the year we’ve all decided we’re living in the first act of a zombie movie — where everyone decides the best course of action is to turn on one another. Thus, in Manhattan Beach, California, we have an unnamed woman throwing coffee in the face of a maskless man, provoking a brawl that was caught on camera and made us all feel just a little worse about humanity.

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The kerfuffle was first reported by TMZ, so seldom a good augury. It’s unclear when the incident occurred, although the website published it Saturday.

According to TMZ, two guys, identified by KTTV on Tuesday report as James Hernandez and Matthew Roy, were sitting outside a coffee shop about to eat when a couple came up to them and began harassing the men about the fact that they weren’t wearing masks.

The man said he doesn’t believe in masks, which led to some highly intellectual back-and-forth between the two parties.

“Y’all need to be wearing masks,” the woman said.

“We’re locals here, but we’re on the other side of the fence, we don’t believe in this stuff,” Hernandez said.

The video was recorded on Hernandez’s bodycam. According to KTTV-TV, Hernandez said he keeps it on him because he’s a supporter of President Donald Trump and has “had a lot of confrontations” due to his Trump hat.

WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.



At a little past the one-minute mark in the video, the woman throws hot coffee at Roy, prompting a fight between him and the woman’s male companion. The woman tries to get between the two of them, because apparently that sort of retaliation is problematic. (Throwing hot coffee in someone’s face, though, is absolutely all right.)

“You shouldn’t have thrown the drink in his face,” Hernandez said to the woman after the fight was broken up.

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“I don’t give a f—!” she responded.

The bloodied male companion (should male Karens be known as “Kevins” or “Kens”? Have we decided on this yet?) decided to call the police, claiming he was assaulted while neglecting to mention that the woman he was with had thrown coffee in the guy’s face.

Should this woman have been charged with a crime?

Then the police arrived, the swearing stopped and everyone’s sympathetic nervous systems calmed down. No arrests were made; Hernandez and Roy told KTTV they declined to press charges. (It’s not clear whether or not that option was on the table as far as the police were concerned, anyhow.)

Patch reports the police asked the parties apologize to each other, which they did.

If they arrived at some point of amity after the police made them play nice, however, it had evaporated by the time Hernandez and Roy were interviewed by KTTV.

“They really wanted to force us to put a mask on, they just thought we were killing their grandma,” Hernandez told the station.

“Nobody really believes in the masks, but everybody is scared of Ken and Karen and I’m not. I don’t care anymore,” Roy said.

TMZ noted that Manhattan Beach requires masks at restaurants if customers are not eating — except these guys were apparently sitting down to eat. (Not that they would wear them anyway, but that’s worth pointing out. There’s also the fact they’re outdoors.)

Thankfully, this is an isolated incident. Most people who chide mask-shirkers over their obstinance do so with the proper censorial tone, but they rarely cross the line and put people at greater risk for physical harm than a mask refusenik might cause.

Oh, well. Never mind.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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