Florida Woman Sentenced To 30 Days In Jail For Coughing On Cancer Patient

A woman in Florida has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for intentionally coughing on a cancer patient during the pandemic–and the whole thing was caught on camera.

Source: Michele D’ottavio / EyeEm / Getty

According to reports from The Associated Press, the disgusting incident took place in June 2020 at a Pier 1 location in Jackson, Florida. The coughing woman in question, Debra Hunter, was filmed arguing with store employees as another customer, Heather Sprague, began filming the altercation with her phone–that’s when Hunter threatened to cough on her.

“Do you really need this? What do you want me to do? Post it for you?” Hunter asks Sprague, referring to the video recording.

Hunter proceeds to flip Sprague off and then walk toward her while saying, “I think I’ll just get real close to you and cough on you then. How’s that?” Hunter gets close to Sprague’s face before coughing on her and saying, “asshole” as she walks away.

While this encounter would have been disgusting, regardless, Sprague is being treated for a cancerous brain tumor, making her much higher-risk if she were to catch COVID-19. Several days after this incident, she filed a police report, which led to Hunter’s arrest on a misdemeanor assault charge.

“I worried for the health and safety of my children, and wondered how in the world I could possibly isolate to protect them — in a household of 12 — if I had been intentionally infected,” Sprague said in court this week.

Luckily, Sprague and everyone else in her household tested negative for coronavirus following the encounter.

In addition to spending 30 days in jail, the judge also sentenced Hunter to six months probation, and ordered her to pay a $500 fine, cover the costs of Sprague’s coronavirus test, and enroll in anger management classes.