Video shows confrontation over mask requirement at 99 cent store

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) -A video making the rounds on social  media shows a man yelling at employees and getting into a confrontation with customers at a 99 Cents Only store in the city’s Northeast Side because he was told he had to wear a mask.

He started shouting that the mask requirement is illegal because the Texas governor says he doesn’t have to wear a mask.  The  video shows the suspect knocking a phone out of a customer’s hands because he was videotaping him.  The customer then pushed him and the suspect grabbed him and pushed him against some coolers.

“I’m going to f*** your phones up,” he says.  The video stops when he starts coming towards a woman who was videotaping the incident that occurred this week at the 99 Cents Only store on Thousand Oaks.

The governor said wearing masks is not mandatory and municipalities cannot impose fines or jail sentences for not wearing a face covering.  The local Public Health Emergency Declarations in San Antonio and Bexar County say face coverings are required when social distancing is not possible, but there is no penalty for not doing so.   However, Mayor Ron Nirenberg says businesses can require patrons to wear them.

“Let’s be clear, the store has the authority and the ability to require a patron to wear a mask,” said Nirenberg. “Protesting the requirement to wear a mask doesn’t confer someone the right to trespass, doesn’t confer them the right to disrupt a business, and certainly doesn’t confer them the right to assault someone.”

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff agrees.

“How many signs do you see that say ‘no shirts, no shoes, no service,’ and they certainly have the right to do that, and we’re encouraging them to do that,” said Wolff.

Here’s the video posted on Facebook by Valerie Vallejo.

Warning, it contains graphic language.