Last week, police and vaccination clinic officials say a California man was arrested after he attacked the staff, accusing them of causing the COVID pandemic and calling them murderers.
On December 30, 43-year-old Thomas Apollo entered the Families Together of Orange County mobile clinic in Tustin without a mask on and started abusing the staff.
According to police, Apollo allegedly assaulted two staff workers who needed to be hospitalized, including mobile operations manager, Parsia Jahanbani, 37, and a medical assistant.
Apollo was tasered three times over 15 minutes by seven police officers after multiple staff members attempted to pull him off Jahanbani.
Jahanbani told The Post that he said, ‘I don’t need a mask, I don’t have the virus, and you are the ones making people sick.”
Families Together said Wednesday that Jahanbani and the assistant “sustained serious injuries and was sent to the hospital in an ambulance” but that both workers “are expected to make a full recovery within a few days.”
“We’re extremely saddened to report that staff members working to help vaccinate patients in Tustin were attacked last week,” a statement from the clinic read.
“While Families Together believes that vaccines are important in the fight against the pandemic, we understand that the decision to get vaccinated is purely personal.”
“However, we will not tolerate violence or harassment of any kind against our staff, patients or volunteers,” the clinic’s statement continued.
“We’re proud of the strength and bravery of our team, and while this incident has shaken us, we will not be deterred from our mission to keep our community safe and healthy. On the contrary, it has motivated us to fight even harder.”
According to Alexander Rossel, chief executive of Families Together, the medical assistant was brought to the emergency department and returned to work Tuesday looking like a “boxer after a fight.”
On Thursday, Apollo was arrested for battery and resisting arrest and booked into the Orange County jail.
Records show that Apollo was released that Friday and it’s scheduled to appear in court later this month.
