A 52-year-old woman who coughed on a brain cancer patient at a Pier 1 store has been sentenced to 30 days in prison.
Debra Jo Hunter was also ordered to serve six months probation, pay a $500 fine, and participate in a mental health evaluation.
David Chapman, the communications director for the state attorney’s office in Jacksonville, also said in an email that Hunter was ordered to shoulder the costs of the victim’s coronavirus test.
Hunter was arrested after she was filmed coughing on another customer during an argument with employees.
The victim, Heather Sprague, had started recording Hunter and the employees arguing over an item return.
After noticing her, Hunter made a rude gesture then threatened that she would cough on her.
An arrest affidavit said that Hunter approached the victim and coughed on her.
Sprague, a brain cancer patient, told the court that she spent days anxiously looking for a place where she and her family could be tested for Covid-19. Fortunately, all tests showed negative results.
Hunter’s husband said that they had experienced numerous hardships before the incident, including losing all their belongings because of a house fire, according to FirstCoast News.
“It was like air being inflated into a balloon, and it finally got to the point where she couldn´t handle any more air,” the husband said in court. “And then she finally rubbed up against something and just popped.”
Hunter said that her family has paid the price for her wrongdoings, adding that they do not go out in their community anymore and that her children keep on losing friends.
“I watch as my kids lower their heads and turn the opposite direction, so they won´t be recognized or approached,” she expressed.
“And I know exactly what they’re feeling because I do the same thing.”
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Replaced!