A woman who insisted on practicing social distancing is accused of using pepper spray on another woman who tried to ride an elevator in the parking garage of a Walmart in Washington, D.C.
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Dominick Gamble, who took cellphone video of the Monday afternoon incident, said shoppers with baskets were crowded around an elevator to the parking lot, WJLA reported.
Gamble said a woman, who was not wearing a required face mask, got on the elevator and tried to close the door on the other shoppers. When they objected, Gamble said the woman claimed she wanted social distancing and took out the pepper spray, the television station reported.
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“The other ladies stood up, like, ‘Nah, we ain’t going like that. You gonna let us on this elevator,'" Gamble told WJLA. “Everybody tried to get on, but she was riding like that so she whipped that mace.”
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Gamble’s video shows a woman, apparently sprayed, holding her face and screaming. Other shoppers brought water to put on the woman’s face while a security guard struggled to subdue another woman, who was attempting to get at the pepper sprayer, the television station reported.
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The victim declined treatment when an ambulance arrived. Security personnel held the woman with the pepper spray until police arrived, but she was not arrested or charged, according to WJLA.
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Gamble told the television that while concerns are running high because of COVID-19, people should exercise restraint.
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“Just try to not hurt nobody (with) this virus going (on)," Gamble told WJLA. "Just stay in the house.”
