Given that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has yet to show any signs of letting up, barring the best efforts of one Martin Shkreli, it’s been feeling like an increasingly dangerous time to be alive. Not only are we forced to contend with a potentially fatal virus, but also a rapidly crashing economy, the maddening throes of cabin fever, and a disturbing increase in people weaponizing their bodily fluids.

Today, TMZ has highlighted an unsettling act committed by a Baltimore police sergeant, who deemed it appropriate conduct to cough on a woman heckling his appearance. “Hey officer Friendly with the cherry cheeks,” begins the woman, only to be met with a barrage of phlegmy-sounding coughs from the officer in question.

Naturally, the incident has proceeded to gain attention, prompting a response from Baltimore PD spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge  “We have viewed the video, in its entirety, and believe it warranted being forwarded to the Public Integrity Bureau for an internal investigation,” she explains, though TMZ claims that the Sargeant remains on active duty as of now.

It should also be noted that it’s as of yet unclear whether the offending Sargeant was ever tested for COVID-19 to begin with — either way, such reckless behavior is not only in poor taste, but quite possibly dangerous on a variety of levels. Check out the video below, and sound off in the comment section.

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Two weeks after posting a Facebook video about his passengers coughing, Detriot bus driver Jason Hargrove has died from complications of COVID-19.

Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images

Hargrove’s video posted on March 21 was made after a female passenger got on his bus and repeatedly coughed. Hargrove encouraged anyone with coronavirus symptoms to stay home: “We out here as public workers doing our job, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families. But for you to get on the bus and stand on the bus and cough several times without covering up your mouth and you know that we in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don’t care.

“It’s folks dying out here. I’m mad right about now because that s**t was uncalled for. And I’m trying to be the professional that they want me to be, so I kept my mouth closed … I feel violated. I feel violated for the folks that were on the bus when this happened.”

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan confirmed Hargrove’s passing and says that the bus driver began feeling ill days after posting the video: “He knew his life was being put in jeopardy, even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day, by somebody who just didn’t care. By somebody who didn’t take this seriously. And now he’s gone.”

Hargrove is survived by his wife.

[Via]