COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A man is facing felony assault charges after spitting blood at Coeur d'Alene Police officers and claiming he had coronavirus.
Coeur d’Alene Police Captain David Hagar confirmed reporting from local newspaper The Bonner County Daily Bee about the arrest of 39-year-old Johnathan M. Bryman.
Bryman was booked into the Kootenai County Jail on Tuesday for several battery of an officer charges, a felony in Idaho, and other assault charges.
The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that Coeur d’Alene police responded to a domestic violence call around 10:30 p.m. on Monday at the 3200 block of North 11th Street in Coeur d’Alene. Neighbors said Bryman had pointed a gun at them and at his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Police said Bryman spat blood at officers during his arrest and told them he had tested positive for coronavirus, according to a report.
Hagar said this is the only event like this that has occurred in Coeur d’Alene during the coronavirus pandemic. But the incident marks at least the third time this month that someone has faced felony charges in the Inland Northwest for a similar reason.
As two Spokane police officers arrested a man’s sister in early April, he allegedly came downstairs and intentionally coughed in their faces.
He then tried to do this again after officers arrested him and were escorting him to a patrol car, according to police.
Tanner Macri, 21, was booked into jail for two counts of third-degree assault on law enforcement, one for each officer.
On April 1, Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies responded to Super One in Hayden for reports of a shoplifter. They said the man was uncooperative, gave a false name and was a registered sex offender out of Oregon who had not yet registered in Kootenai County.
According to the sheriff's office, the man told deputies he was sick and began coughing. Deputies told him several times not to cough in their direction before he began "purposefully coughing in their faces from less than a foot away."
The man was arrested for burglary, failure to registered as a sex offender, providing false information and battery of an officer, according to the sheriff's office.
Similar instances have happened around the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Associated Press reports that a Florida man was also charged with aggravated assault this week after allegedly coughing on a cashier and claiming that social distancing precautions for the coronavirus pandemic are “getting out of hand," according to a police report.
A Texas man is also facing charges for terroristic threats after he allegedly coughed in the faces of five Verizon employees.
In New Jersey, a man is facing a terrorism charge after he allegedly coughed on a grocery store employee and claimed he had coronavirus.
