Masks feel ‘claustrophobic,’ says Florida man who was fired over Costco meltdown
A Florida man who had a meltdown at a Southwest Florida Costco last week has broken his silence, Wink News first reported.
Shortly after a video circulated of Daniel Maples screaming “I feel threatened” to Costco customers in Fort Myers after they asked him to wear a mask, he was fired.
The disturbing clip sees Maples coming toward the person with the camera and screaming, “Back off! Threaten me again. Back the f--- up. Put your f---ing phone down!”
Shortly after, Tedd Todd Insurance, where Maples worked as a salesman, tweeted that he had been let go.
“Their behavior in the video is in direct conflict with our company values and their employment has been terminated,” the statement read. “Threatening behavior and intimidation go against our core mission to be trusted advisors in our community.”
Maples told radio host Trey Radel on the Drive on 92.5 FOX News Friday that he has been receiving threats since the incident and just “wants his life back.”
The Bonita Springs resident said that one bad shopping trip should not define him.
“What you don’t see in the video is me pleading with the person to please stop and get away from me,” Maples said in the interview. “I got backed into a corner. It was not something I deal with on a daily basis, someone screaming at me and filming me and trying to rally a mob against me.”
Asked why he did not wear a facial covering as per Costco’s in-store policy to stop the spread of coronavirus, Maples had an explanation.
“I can’t breathe when I have these masks on,” said Maples who said he did enter the store wearing one. “I feel as if I’m suffocating. I feel claustrophobic. It’s almost like a drowning type thing.”
Maples blames his current problems on cancel culture.
“Society needs to look at the bigger picture and the toll it takes on people,” he said. “It’s not a meme. It’s a life. I worked so hard for so long to become who I was, and, now it’s all for nothing.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 10:53 AM.
