‘I think I’ll get real close to you’: Pier 1 shopper coughs on cancer patient in Florida
UPDATE: After a police report was filed, The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office identified Debra Hunter of Fernandina Beach as the shopper who intentionally coughed on Heather Reed Sprague. Hunter, 52, has yet to be arrested or charged.
Original story: Another COVID confrontation happened in Florida at a Jacksonville Pier 1 Imports store.
And it involved someone not wearing a mask. But witnesses said it went beyond that.
Shopper Heather Reed Sprague recorded a video of a fellow customer Thursday after she noticed a commotion by the cash register in the home-decor store at the St. Johns Town Center mall.
On her Facebook post, Sprague said that a maskless woman appeared to be trying to return an item without actually having it in her possession, and things with Pier 1 employees began to escalate.
Sprague, a mother of 10 who says she is in treatment for a brain tumor, reported that the woman was “screaming at, swearing, insulting, and threatening the staff as she demanded to return an item she didn’t have with her, just a photo of the item on her phone.”
After the agitated shopper noticed she was being filmed, she is seen giving Sprague the finger with both hands.
“I think I”ll get real close to you. How about that?” she snipes, walking toward the camera. The woman then coughs in Sprague’s face.
“I was a little bit stunned when she invaded my personal space,” wrote Sprague, who was wearing a facial covering. “I wanted her to know she was being held accountable for her actions. ... Within 30 seconds of filming, her tirade was done and she left the poor staff in peace.”
Sprague goes on to say that because of the incident, she planned to get tested for COVID-19.
Pier 1, based in Fort Worth, Texas, did not immediately return the Miami Herald’s request for comment this week.
In May, the retail chain announced it was seeking bankruptcy court approval to begin an “orderly wind-down of retail operations” following the government-mandated closures during the coronavirus pandemic. Many Pier 1 locations are liquidating inventory.
In-store facial coverings are required for shopping at the Town Center. It is unclear how the woman in the video entered the Jacksonville location without a mask.
Sprague told the Miami Herald late Tuesday that she was awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 11:57 AM.
