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Surveillance video of face mask incident involving Bexar County Judge Wolff (Video courtesy Bexar County Sheriff's Office)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Video released from the Bexar County Sheriff's Office shows the physical confrontation over wearing a face-covering between a man and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff at a store.
Judge Wolff says an irate man smacked his hand when he tried to persuade the man to don a face-covering Wednesday.
The man was berating a cashier at a Lowe's home improvement store for requiring him to wear a mask when Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff intervened, a Wolff spokeswoman said.
Wolff, who had ordered businesses to require face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus or face $1,000 fines per violation. He was explaining the order to the man when he turned his ire on Wolff, who phoned Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar so he could hear the exchange.
"It was one-sided, certainly," Salazar said, adding that the man "was just berating the judge. Language that you wouldn't want anyone, you certainly wouldn't want your wife or your children hearing that kind of language in broad daylight, not in a retail establishment. ... He was certainly berating the judge and what he thought of the law."
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Wolff offered the man his business card and asked him to call, Salazar said. The man smacked the card out of Wolff's hand and left. Wolff followed him outside, got his license plate number and turned it over to Salazar.
"Well, we'll see what he thinks of the assault charge he's going to catch," Salazar said.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement that man, identified as Terry Toller, turned himself in Thursday morning on a felony charge of assault on a public servant, a charge rejected at magistration at the request of Judge Wolff. Instead, Toller was issued a citation for disorderly conduct for using profanity in a public place, a Class C misdemeanor. If found guilty, Toller will face a fine of up to $500.
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"Bexar County’s Executive Order NW-10 requires businesses develop a policy for both employees and customers to wear a facial covering in the interest of protecting us all from the spread of COVID-19," Gonzales said. "Wearing a face covering is a sign of respect to the people around you. While this issue has become divisive and political, it is my hope that everyone will follow the order voluntarily."
Wolff issued a statement on the incident Thursday, saying that he told the District Attorney he does not want to pursue a criminal complaint against Toller:
“I called the District Attorney early this morning and told him I did not want to pursue any sort of criminal complaint against Mr. Toller. I did not want this to be a distraction of our main focus of requiring businesses to have customers wear masks and continuing to ensure the health and safety of everyone in our community. We are experiencing a drastic rise in cases and hospitalizations and it is my understanding that those numbers will go up exponentially today. We do not need any distractions from our mission to make sure this virus does not continue to spread within our community.”
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