A staff report from 13 News Now, a Virginia-based ABC affiliate, appears to imply – without evidence – that a Virginia Beach police officer is responsible for infecting a black man with COVID-19 after handcuffing him in a case of mistaken identity.
According to the report, Jamar Mackey, who was handcuffed by a police officer at the city’s Lynnhaven Mall on December 21st, tells reporters he is “quarantining with mild symptoms” of COVID-19. The report does not mention whether or not Mackey backed up his claim with documentation, though it does appear to imply that the Virginia Beach police officer who detained him is responsible for his illness.
Jamar Mackey, a man who was wrongfully detained by a police officer at Lynnhaven Mall on December 21, said he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is “quarantining with mild symptoms.”
This comes after Mackey was handcuffed by a police officer who was not wearing a mask…
On Dec. 29, Mackey said his family had also gotten tested for COVID-19. We don’t know the results of their tests.
The Virginia Beach Police Department spokesperson could not say if the officer involved in the incident had COVID-19 or not, due to health privacy laws.
In the Dec. 21 press conference about Mackey’s wrongful detention, Chief Paul Neudigate recognized that the officer in question was not following the department’s mask requirements, and said the issue was being addressed.
NEW: Jamar Mackey, the man wrongfully detained by #VirginiaBeach PD at Lynnhaven Mall, says he tested positive for COVID-19 and is now quarantining with mild symptoms.
Last week, he said he & his family got tested because officer was not wearing mask. #13newsnow pic.twitter.com/bjBRScK4AY
— Eugene Daniel 13News Now (@eugenedanielTV) December 30, 2020
As I previously reported for National File, following Mackey’s handcuffing at the Lynnhaven Mall, members of Black Lives Matter 757 vowed to “shut down” the mall, but were quickly routed by security and police officers.
When the group arrived to “shut down” the mall, they were met by numerous security and police officers, who brought a swift end to the chants of “black lives matter” filling the food court where the incident took place.
“Just now, a group of Black Lives Matter protestors demonstrated at Lynnhaven Mall, where Jamar Mackey was detained Saturday,” Evan Watson of Channel 13 News tweeted ahead of 9 PM Monday night. “Security and police officers removed them from the private property, walking them to the parking lot.”
In addition to the attempted Black Lives Matter attack on the mall, recent criminal behavior amongst patrons has resulted in a ban on unaccompanied minors, with a new policy requiring customers under the age of 18 to have a chaperone age 21 or older.