Texas judge: Irate man smacked his hand over facemask appeal

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A prominent Texas official says an irate man smacked his hand when he tried to persuade the man to don a face covering Wednesday.

The man was berating a cashier at a Lowe’s home improvement store for requiring him to wear a mask, when Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff intervened, a Wolff spokeswoman said.

Wolff, who had ordered businesses to require face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus or face $1,000 fines per violation. He was explaining the order to the man when he turned his ire on Wolff, who phoned Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar so he could hear the exchange.

“It was one-sided, certainly,” Salazar said, adding that the man “was just berating the judge. Language that you wouldn’t want anyone, you certainly wouldn’t want your wife or your children hearing that kind of language in broad daylight, not in a retail establishment. ... He was certainly berating the judge and what he thought of the law."

Wolff offered the man his business card and asked him to call, Salazar said. The man smacked the card out of Wolff’s hand and left. Wolff followed him outside, got his license plate number and turned it over to Salazar.

"Well, we’ll see what he thinks of the assault charge he’s going to catch,” Salazar said.