A woman allegedly sprayed an entire can of Mace at a California couple because they weren’t wearing face masks while sitting and eating lunch in the open air at a dog park.
A video filmed by a bystander and later uploaded to Facebook caught part of the disturbing encounter, which took place on Thursday afternoon at the Dusty Rhodes Dog Park in Ocean Beach, near San Diego.
According to the injured pair, Ash O’Brien and husband Jarrett Kelley, the woman, who was wearing a black mask, attacked them with a can of the burning aerosol after haranguing them for not donning face coverings and eating.
First, she “automatically started saying stuff about us not wearing a mask when we were social distancing — there was no one near us,” O’Brien told KGTV.
O’Brien said the unnamed woman also berated them for eating at a picnic table at the park while they were there with their 3-month-old puppy, claiming it was against the rules.
“If we knew there was a no-food policy, we wouldn’t have brought it into the park,” O’Brien told the ABC affiliate.
The irate woman left after the initial exchange only to return a few minutes later and ambush them, O’Brien said.
“She just came up without saying anything and just stuck the Mace can right in front of my face,” O’Brien said. “My husband, being a good guy, walked in front of her and was like, ‘Hey, calm down, please don’t do this’ — and then she grabbed him and just starting Macing him. She used the entire can on him.”
“We drove to the hospital. He got treated and everything,” O’Brien added, noting that her husband suffered facial injuries while she sustained burns on her arms.
In the video partially capturing the encounter, the woman filming shouts at the attacker, “What are you doing? You cannot be serious! You just Maced them!”, as another female cries in the background.
The injured couple say they are pressing charges.
“I want her to go to jail — she assaulted my husband, and I’m angry about it,” O’Brien told the channel.
San Diego police confirmed they took a report alleging battery over the incident.