A man has been sentenced to 19 weeks in prison for deliberately coughing on two police officers in an attempt to infect them with Coronavirus.
41-year-old Michael Gray admitted assaulting an emergency services worker and using threatening words and behavior following an incident in Brixton last Thursday.
According to Scotland Yard, two patrol officers approached Gray as he seemed to be harassing three women. Upon checking his details, they discovered that he was wanted on warrant for failing to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.
Upon arrest, Gray intentionally coughed towards the officers and, while in custody, threatened to spit at them. He expressed his hope to infect them with COVID-19 so that they would pass it on to their children.
During a hearing before Croydon magistrates, Gray was given a total of 19 weeks for the assault on police officers and a separate drug driving offence. Additionally, he was fined £100 for the public order offense and disqualified from driving for 26 months.
Superintendent Kris Wright of Scotland Yard commented, “This attack on our officers while carrying out their duties protecting the communities of Lambeth and Southwark is an attack on every one of us. Both officers displayed the finest qualities of the Met, despite the threats and risk of Covid-19 infection posed by this man’s actions, and his desire to cause harm to the officers’ children.”
Wright also expressed gratitude to the court for treating the matter seriously, emphasizing the duty to ‘protect the protectors’ in light of the current rare but serious assaults on officers.