New Jersey Woman Charged Over Mask Dispute At Staples That Left Customer With Broken Leg

New Jersey police have arrested a woman who was involved in a mask dispute at a Staples store that left a customer with a broken leg.

Terry Thomas, 25, was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 4, and charged with second-degree assault, Hackensack police said in a news release.

Margot Kagan, 54, of Teaneck, told police she was using a fax machine at the Staples store on July 29 when Thomas approached a machine next to her with a mask pulled down below her mouth. Kagan, who police said had undergone a liver transplant surgery four months ago and was walking with a cane, told Thomas to put her mask back on, which police said angered her, NBC News reported.

The police department had earlier sought public help in identifying the suspect in a Twitter post that entailed the surveillance footage of the brawl.

The video appears to show Thomas walking over to Kagan and yelling. Kagan is seen raising her cane to keep Thomas away, but she gains control over her and throws her to the ground violently before leaving the store.

Kagan was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured left tibia, authorities said.

In a similar incident, a driver in San Francisco was physically assaulted late last month while attempting to remove three passengers from the bus who refused to wear masks amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The driver, who is employed by San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, was "struck by a wooden bat several times". Roger Marenco, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 250, said that the Asian-American driver was also spat on and was called racist slurs. No arrests were made at that time.

In May, a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan was shot to death following an altercation with a customer who refused to wear a mask. An argument ensued when Calvin Munnerlyn, 43, refused to let Sharmel Teague’s daughter into the store because she didn’t have a face covering on. Witnesses said the Teague’s son, Ramonyea Bishop, 23, shot him in the back of the head shortly after. Teague, 45, her husband Larry Teague, 44, and Bishop were arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder.