A Kentucky doctor has been charged for strangling a teenage girl and shoving her friends because they weren’t practicing social distancing, police said.
What We Know:
- John Rademaker, a 57-year-old physician, was charged Tuesday with first-degree strangulation and three counts of harassment with physical contact for the April 3 altercation at the North Commons Amphitheater, the Louisville Metro Police Department advised.
- The teenagers, who were defying the state’s stay at home order established to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus, immediately tried to wave off the two adults who were cursing at them for not adhering to the CDC’s social distancing recommendations.
- The woman with Rademaker, who has not been identified and is seen in the video also filming on her phone, suddenly grabs a black teenage girl lying on the ground.
- Aggressively shoving a third teenager out of the way, Rademaker puts his hands on the teen’s neck while her friends scream for him to stop.
- According to an arrest warrant obtained by WDRB, Rademaker choked the 18-year-old for several seconds before other bystanders intervened and pulled him off. The teenager, who has not been identified, suffered a red mark on her neck but did not require hospitalization.
- As the pandemic continues to rage across the nation infecting almost 400,00 and killing 12,912, there have been incidents of people lashing out at others for not practicing social distancing to combat the spread of the highly infectious virus.
- In Pennsylvania, a 57-year-old woman was charged with harassment on Friday for allegedly slapping and yelling at grocery store customers for not practicing social distancing. The East Township Police Department charged Rene L. Simonini with harassment and disorderly conduct after the incident at the Shady Maple Farm market on April 2.
According to a police spokesperson, this police department does “not advise individuals concerned about social distancing to take matters into their own hands and confront people about it, especially in any physical way.” Anyone concerned about large gatherings should call 311 or 911 to report their concerns.
