December 31 – A week after the result, a black American man Jamal McKee tested positive for COVID-19 after being mistakenly arrested by a policeman without a mask in a Virginia mall.
According to the New York Post on the 30th, McKee’s fiancee Chantel Cowell revealed that McGee tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Christmas Eve (nearly a week after the incident). Currently, McKee is quarantined at home with mild symptoms, including low fever, cough and sore throat.
According to video taken by McGee’s fiancee, on the 19th, while McKee was having lunch with his family at the Linnafin shopping mall on Virginia Beach, a white policeman suspected that McGee had stolen a credit card and arrested him. Angry McKee yelled at the police: “Is it appropriate for you to do this in public? Can’t we go out? Must be in front of my family?”
The police officer, who did not wear a mask, replied, “Listen, I want to explain all this.” Fiancee Covell said behind the camera: “What did he do? It’s embarrassing for us to be with our family.
My child is here and he is still a newborn. What are you doing?” The video shows the officer escorting McKee out, who insists that the police let him go.
After that, the Virginia Beach Police Department apologized to McKee for the incident, saying that another man suspected of credit card fraud had been arrested, and stressed that police officers must wear masks while on duty.
Cowell said that the two were tested for the novel coronavirus on the 22nd, and McKee tested positive on the 24th, while his own test was negative. Their two children (a 13-year-old and a baby) are being monitored and it is unclear where McGee contracted the virus.
McKee’s lawyer said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America on the 22nd that McKee plans to sue the police station for the matter.
