Calgary man guilty of assault after getting aggressive with Costco staff over COVID policy

A Calgary man has been found guilty of assault after berating Costco retail staff over COVID-19 face mask rules.

According to court documents, the man was wearing his mask improperly when he entered a northeast Costco on the afternoon of Nov. 26, 2020.

After being asked to adjust his mask so it fully covered his mouth and nose, he raised it, and then turned away and immediately pulled it back down.

The Costco employee asked him again to fix his mask, which he did, then turned away and pulled it back down. This back-and-forth happened a couple of times before the employee explained it was store policy and he would be asked to leave if he didn’t wear his mask properly.

He became agitated and called COVID-19 a “fake f—ing virus”. The man then shoved a clerk to the ground and later punched a police officer after staff called 911.

Judge says man ‘needs to be held accountable’

The judge didn’t believe the man’s defence, which she says was largely based on conspiracy theories.

“[The accused’s] behaviour was shameful in the extreme, crossing both criminal and health protection societal lines. He needs to be held accountable,” said the judge in her decision.

“[He] engaged in an arrogant and selfish series of reckless and violent criminal acts. He assaulted three Costco employees, just trying to enforce Costco masking policy at their place of work. Because he was improperly masked, he also endangered all those present in the store particularly the Costco employees by breathing on them without being properly masked only inches from their faces.”