Iowa Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Assaulting Man Who Asked Him to Pull Up His Face Mask

An Iowa man was sentenced to 10 years behind bars last week for attacking and spitting on a man who asked him to pull up his face mask in a store back in November.

Shane Michael, 42, was convicted of willful injury causing serious injury last month. 

He was arrested and charged in November for assaulting a 60-year-old man who asked him to raise his face mask in a Vision 4 Less eyewear store. According to the Des Moines Register, Michael had his mask down slightly, exposing his nose. The man asked him to adjust the face mask, and they exchanged words.

PEOPLE reports that Michael followed the man into the parking lot after the verbal argument and assaulted him. According to the victim, Michael kneed him in the groin, poked him in the eye, and pulled down his mask. Michael coughed on the man and told him, “If I have it, you have it,” referring to COVID-19.

Michael refutes the victim’s account of events, but three witnesses at the scene all name him as the aggressor.