Maine Store Owner Hit With Car After Enforcing Mask Mandate

The last few months have been difficult for Maine business owners for many different reasons.  One of the most visible ways is the need to be "mask police".  Making sure that those who enter their stores, offices, and eateries are wear the proper face coverings.

In many cases, people gladly comply.  Other times, that is not the case.

According to WMTW, a recent interaction at Call's Shop-N-Save in Cornish could have lead to the hospitalization of the owner.

Mark Call and his brother own the small town grocery store.  According to Call, he or his brother take the lead when it comes to approaching customers not wearing masks.  They don't want to put their employees at risk by making them take the lead.

Call says that he always approaches the non-masked customers with kindness and attempts to educate them on the rules imposed by Governor Mills.

Unfortunately, one such interaction earlier this week turned heated and could have lead to injuries.  When Mark Call offered him a mask, the customer got angry.  Call asked him to leave the store.  At that point, he threw a shopping cart at Call.  As the customer left the store, Call followed him out of the store so he could get the man's license plate number.  He intended to report the man to law enforcement.  Surveillance video shows the man pulling out of his parking space and hitting Call with his car.

Fortunately, Call was not injured, just shaken.

Call says that his Shop-N-Save doesn’t have a budget to hire security, and they don't have someone who can watch the door.   His hope is that a special task force will be created to handle the cases of people not following the mandates.

Unfortunately, there is a good chance that situations similar to this could become more numerous.

Yesterday (December 11th), Governor Mills "strengthened" the state's mask mandate.  Up to now, while people were required to wear a mask when entering a public business, employees were not required to enforce the mandate.  Now, business owners and employees are being asked to be "mask police".  They are required to refuse entry, or kick out, customers not wearing masks.

Regardless of how you feel about the government mandates, it is your responsibility to be respectful of those you interact with on a daily basis.