A Calgary police officer is speaking of the “stress and anxiety” of being spit upon during the COVID-19 pandemic..Const. Mark Smith and his partner were on patrol recently in Two District when the were called to a disturbance near 25 Ave. and 19 St. S.W..“Apparently a woman was harassing random people who thought she was trying to attack them or maybe rob them,” Smith said in an interview with the Western Standard.. markConst. Mark Smith .Once they arrived Smith discovered a woman in her mid-30s to early-40s having some sort of mental breakdown..Smith – a 12-year veteran of the Calgary Police Service – decided he wasn’t going to charge the woman and instead take her to hospital for mental health treatment..“She became upset, volitile…we were forced to handcuff her,” Smith recalled..As they were walking towards the cruiser, the woman turned and spat at Smith..“It’s a risk because you don’t know what they have – it causes a lot of stress and anxiety,” said Smith, who was a police officer in England for five years before making the decision to move to Calgary..“The health officials we talked to deemed it a low risk, but bodily fluids are easy to transmit. It causes a lot of anxiety..“It’s always in the back of your mind – what if?”. POLL: Many Albertans say they will ignore Christmas COVID lockdown .Smith and his partner were forced to go through a two-hour decontamination which took them off the streets “during a very busy evening.”.Sadly, Smith said, the woman was back causing a disturbance the very next night. This time she was arrested by other officers and charged with assaulting a police officer for the Smith incident..“Hopefully somewhere down the road she gets the help she needs.”.On March 22, Belly Mujinga was working at London’s Victoria train station when a man approached her and a colleague and spat and coughed at them. He said he had coronavirus..Days after the attack, both women became sick, according to British media reports..Two weeks later, Mujinga, 47, died of the coronavirus. She left behind an 11-year-old daughter, Ingrid..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
