A woman is being treated for a fractured left tibia after she was allegedly thrown to the ground of a New Jersey Staples store by an unidentified woman for speaking up about the woman’s failure to wear a mask properly.
Margot Kagan, 54, is recovering from a liver transplant in addition to her injuries, and police Capt. Darren DeWitt confirmed his department is searching for the suspect who approached Kagan at the Hackensack outlet while she was using a copier and allegedly threw her to the ground.
“I had a liver transplant four months ago, so this is a whole different world of pain,” Kagan told News12 while being treated at Hackensack Medical Center.
Security footage shows the unidentified suspect approach Kagan from behind and then violently throws her to the ground after she raised her walking cane in self-defense. Kagan said she had instructed the woman, who was wearing a mask below her nostrils, to address the poor fit because it was “endangering everyone.”
“The woman on one side of the plastic dividers had a mask but … below her mouth,” Kagan said. “I said, ‘You should really put a mask on.’ … She proceeded to curse, curse me out.”
That’s when the woman allegedly became enraged and charged Kagan. As Kagan lay on the floor, the suspect is seen leaving the frame and then returning while two store employees and other shoppers failed to provide help to the injured Kagan.
In a July 8 order mandating the wearing of masks in outdoor places, Gov. Phil Scott reiterated that masks are required indoors in places “such as retail, recreational, and entertainment businesses, [and] areas of government buildings open to the public.”
