After a Los Angeles man noticed his Amazon package was damp, he decided to look at his home security camera to try and determine why. To the man’s shock, the delivery man seemed to have deliberately spit on his package.
According to TMZ, the incident occurred Thursday afternoon in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the driver appears to rub the spit onto the package after placing it on the floor. The driver’s behavior was reported by two people to an Amazon customer service representative, a source told the news agency.
“We’re told the rep gasped in horror and expressed shock that it was an older man, and not a young delivery worker. The rep confirmed the delivery guy was from a third party service and he was reported,” wrote the news agency in its report.
In a statement to TMZ, an Amazon spokesperson said that the online megastore was investigating the matter and would consider legal recourse against the driver if the investigation determined the driver’s behavior “truly was a malicious act.”
“This is clearly not representative of drivers who deliver for Amazon and the care they take for customers around the world every day. We are aggressively investigating to understand what may have occurred in this situation. If it truly was a malicious act by the driver, we will be sure he is held accountable, up through and including law enforcement action,” the spokesperson told the news agency.
According to the New York Post, the man who received the package posted a video of the incident online.
WARNING – amazon delivery person spread spit willingly on our package today! Please share!!!!!! I am trying to contact amazon ASAP so please tag amazon if you share this!! I received the box and saw a big wet spot and then checked the camera! @amazon @latimes @KTLA @mayorofla pic.twitter.com/468U6UaZoa
— Gavin. M. (@mpium) March 27, 2020
People across the country have experienced an increased sense of caution as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and allegations of inappropriate behavior have drawn heightened concern from shoppers and businesses alike.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, a family-owned grocery store chain in Pennsylvania had to throw out $35,000 worth of products after a woman allegedly went around the store purposefully coughing on the food while proclaiming she contracted the coronavirus.
According to The Times-Tribune, the manager of the store reported the woman as “violently coughing and spitting.” A police complaint alleges the woman also forcibly vomited on some of the products, and was “smiling and laughing” at another point.
In a Facebook Post, co-owner Joe Fasula said the woman had performed a “twisted prank,” and as a result the store had to throw away “all the product she came into contact with.”
The woman has been charged with “making terroristic threats and making a bomb threat related to a weapon of mass destruction,” among several other lesser charges, reports the news agency.
Earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen informed police and prosecutors across the country that some criminal activity related to coronavirus threats could be categorized under terrorism charges, on account that the virus is a “biological agent,” reports The New York Times.
The news agency reports that similar charges have been filed against a New Jersey man who allegedly “leaned in” toward a supermarket employee to cough, and then allegedly laughed and told the worker he had coronavirus.