Kansas couple that coughed, claimed ‘he has coronavirus’ at Walmart charged with felonies
A Kansas couple caught on cellphone video repeatedly coughing and claiming “he has coronavirus” during a Walmart shopping trip has been charged with felony crimes.
Hesston residents Hazel Hamrick, 29, and Ernest Williams, 47, were charged Thursday in Harvey County District Court, a county spokesman said in a news release. Prosecutors allege the couple portrayed that Williams was infected with the novel coronavirus to customers and employees inside Walmart “in an attempt to cause fear.”
The alleged crimes happened at the Walmart store in Newton on April 6. Newton Police Department officials said at the time that both suspects admitted to walking around the store, where Williams coughed on people as Hamrick claimed he had been infected.
Hamrick faces two felony counts of criminal threat. Williams faces two felony counts of aiding and abetting criminal threat. If convicted, the penalty for each count is five to 17 months in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Both suspects also face one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. The maximum penalty of that count is one month in county jail and a fine of up to $500.
Both suspects have posted a $5,000 bond. Their first court appearances are scheduled for June 2.
Newton police Deputy Chief Scott Powell previously said the couple “was trying to be funny.”
“They aren’t taking this COVID-19 pandemic seriously. They think it’s all overblown,” Powell told The Eagle after the arrests.
“Most people have enough anxiety over this that they don’t think it’s funny. ... We don’t think it’s funny. The people at Walmart don’t think it’s funny,” he said.
Hamrick and Williams in a previous interview with The Eagle denied coughing on people and said those in the store misunderstood their actions.
“I was not meaning anything by it. I wasn’t saying that he — my fiance (Williams) — has coronavirus. I was just trying to let people know that somebody else had that in the store,” Hamrick said, adding that Williams has a “smoker’s cough” and did not purposely hack on an employee but that they got kicked out by Walmart management anyway.
She didn’t say who specifically she was referring to when she repeatedly announced “he has coronavirus” in the store.
Hamrick and Williams said that they think concern over the coronavirus has been blown “out of proportion” but said they never thought they would get into trouble.
At the time of the incident, Harvey County had four confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state had 900 cases and 27 deaths. Now, there 4,238 cases in the state, seven in the county and 129 deaths statewide.
Powell said Newton police learned of the couple’s behavior after seeing video footage circulating on social media. The 9-second video, taken by another shopper, shows Hamrick and Williams walking together down a Walmart aisle as Hamrick pushes a cart and repeats: “He has coronavirus. He has coronavirus.”
The woman who shot the video, Paula V. Stout, told The Eagle she walked into the store at around the same time as the couple and heard them coughing as they approached the entrance.
“The couple got there ahead of me and stood there coughing towards the employee and laughing,” Stout said. “... I heard her (Hamrick) tell someone ... ‘yeah, he’s got coronavirus,’ and then they both were fake coughing some more. And I just walked away as fast as I could because, who knows if they were being truthful?”
Stout said saw the couple again near the dog food section.
“I turned my video on and caught the woman poking her head down each aisle saying, ‘He’s got coronavirus. He’s got coronavirus.”
She posted the video on her Facebook, writing: “I think people like this should be treated just like people who joke about having a bomb on a plane.”
Hamrick told The Eagle she and Williams went to Walmart to buy supplies for a pet cat and didn’t think about whether their comments would make store employees and shoppers fearful.
She said she feels like a “complete fool about this situation, but I guess stuff happens, and there are consequences.”
“I can’t turn back time. I can’t turn back the clock. I just really feel bad.”
Williams claims he never coughed on anyone and said “we wasn’t laughing at all about any of it.”
