A woman has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer after exhaling on them and claiming to have coronavirus.
Police responded to a disturbance in Fartown in Huddersfield, West Yorks., in the early hours on Thursday (26/3) and found a woman who became abusive towards the attending officers.
The 37-year-old woman was arrested for being drunk and disorderly, but while she was being detained she exhaled towards the officer and claimed to have coronavirus.
The woman was then further arrested for assaulting an emergency worker.
She has been remanded into custody after pleading guilty today (27/3) and is due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on a date yet to be decided.
Kirklees Detective Superintendent, Jim Griffiths said: “Given the particularly challenging circumstances all emergency services are facing amid the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak, it is utterly incomprehensible that they would be treated in this way.
“Irrespective of the fact that this individual has chosen to use Coronavirus as the means to assault our colleague, this is a subject which we have campaigned long and hard over.
“It led to the introduction of the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act in 2018 and we will continue to use these powers against anyone who attempts to use such tactics against the very people who are trying to protect them.
“The message is clear, we will not tolerate this behaviour from the minority and the criminal justice system will take a dim view of those who take advantage of the virus for their own benefit.
“Clearly this has been particularly distressing for the officer concerned and we are providing the necessary support.
“It has not yet, however, been ascertained if the woman arrested was suffering from COVID-19.”