A Utah man was charged with assault after police said he punched a restaurant customer who asked him to wait outside because he was not wearing a mask.
Jonathan Crocker, 38, was charged with the misdemeanor after police responded to a report last month involving an assault at Cafe Rio in the Salt Lake City suburb of Cottonwood Heights according to court documents.
The records said Crocker had driven up to the side of the restaurant and left his car door open while he ran inside to get his to-go order.
Employees told him his order was not ready yet and asked him to wait outside because he was not wearing a mask or face covering.
Crocker refused to go outside or put on a mask despite repeated requests to do so, authorities said. Another customer approached Crocker and asked him to either step back from restaurant employees or go outside and shut his car door, according to the documents.
Crocker said the customer should “mind his own business” and then punched him in the face, the records say, adding the man needed stitches.
Crocker left the restaurant and called a police dispatcher after going to a relative’s house, KTVX-TV reported Wednesday. He denied punching the customer during his call with police and said he felt he was being harassed for not wearing a mask.
No attorney has been listed for Crocker in court documents.
Salt Lake County has a mask mandate in place through the end of the year. It requires all those in Utah’s largest county to wear face coverings in businesses and in public spaces where social distancing is not possible.
