Calgary man convicted of assault for coughing on bartender

A man was found guilty of assault for intentionally coughing on a bartender at a Calgary bar, court documents show.

Kyle Claude Pruden, 35, was convicted on two counts of assault, one for coughing on a woman, and another for striking another customer at the bar in the face.

It all happened at the Black Swan Ale House in southwest Calgary on Nov. 3 and 4, 2020.

Pruden had been drinking and got into an argument with a bartender at the Black Swan over payout from a video lottery terminal (VLT) machine in the bar. Pruden won money from the machine, and when he went to go collect his winnings from the bar, he was told to wait until the next day, when the owner would arrive with more cash.

It was at this point that Pruden pulled his mask down and coughed close to, and in the direction of, the bartender.

A customer from the bar then stepped in and gave $60 to Pruden, who thought the customer worked there. Pruden left and spent the $60 nearby on food and beer, and when he came back he wanted the rest of his winnings. The customer who gave him the initial money said that wasn’t possible, and when he put his hand on Pruden’s shoulder, Pruden turned around and punched him in the face, giving the man a black eye.

Pruden told the court that on a scale of zero to 10, zero being sober and 10 being blackout drunk, he was at about a four. He tried to explain away the cough as “sarcastic” but the judge wasn’t hearing it. He also claimed he was seven feet away from the bartender when he coughed.

The Honourable Judge H.A. Lamoureux says she notes this is a unique case that will govern the way future similar cases are handled.

Take a look at this excerpt from her ruling:

“Accordingly, when Mr. Pruden engaged in an intentional act of coughing, he was emitting a force consisting of lung air molecules into the atmosphere. The COVID virus, which is spread through airborne transmission, can be found in the exhaled breath of a potentially infected person. The virus is part of the respiratory droplets dispersed into the atmosphere through coughing. When this occurs in a closed space, such as a room, in close proximity to others located in that room, the COVID virus can be emitted into the surrounding air in the room. This, is an act of force within the definition of force in section 265(1)(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada. Mr. Pruden, by his own testimony, is convicted of the offence of assault by coughing pursuant to section 266 of the Criminal Code of Canada.”

This means purposefully coughing on someone in the COVID-19 era amounts to assault.

The judge also dismissed Pruden’s claim of self-defense when he punched the other customer, the ruling says he had several non-violent options available to defuse the situation, yet he chose to act with force and was the principal cause of the whole incident.

This isn’t the first time something like this has gone before the courts. Several cases in B.C. saw people being charged after coughing or spitting on other people during the pandemic.