https://developers.facebook.com/leolz/videos/10159370376190337/
A man has been charged in Chicago, Illinois after video showed him poking and shoving a gym staffer over mask policy. He is Anthony Myers, 30, police said in a statement obtained by Law&Crime.
“If you had just kept your fucking mouth shut, and not played games, I’d be working out and you’d be minding your own business, but you want to be a big guy, and you want to play games,” said the defendant in video posted to Facebook. He had a mask strapped to his ears, but it was resting below his chin while other people in the footage had their masks on.
“Sure,” said the staffer, hands up in the air.
“Sure,” said the man identified as Myers. “At least you’re admitting it now. Well, congratufuckinglations, dumbass. I don’t put up with shit. I don’t mind following the rules and keeping other people’s health in mind, but I don’t put up with fucking games, and fucking shit. You’re a joke. You’re a fucking joke.”
And with that, the man identified as Myers poked the gym staffer on the face.
That sums up the footage: He repeatedly berated and shoved the staffer, who remained nonconfrontational, hands often either up or behind his back.
“What I am is a lawyer,” Myers said. “And I’m going to sue the fuck out of you.”
His name does not pop up in the Illinois State Bar Association’s “Lawyer Finder.”
The gym staffer stepped forward as Adrian Aguilar. He said on Friday he was with a client when he noticed “our troubled subject” walking around the gym without a mask. The individual was putting one on by the time he made it to a squat rack. Aguilar said, however, that he saw the person’s mask was at his throat.
“Yo!” Aguilar said in this account. “I need you to put your mask up in the building, man.”
That’s when things escalated. Aguilar’s read on the situation is that this was not a well man. From the post on Facebook:
He whirled around and immediately said I was too close to him and that I was within 6 feet of him. I don’t think I was and according to footage, I wasn’t, but like a normal human I took a big step backwards and said, “sorry about that! I need you to put your mask up if you’re in the building.” He then unleashed a truly unhinged tirade that covered a lot of weird bases, but the takeaway was this: I was dealing with a very unstable person. Not a logical one. Not just a jerk. But someone with serious mental issues.
Long story short, the individual refused to put on his mask. Aguilar said he called the gym owner, who realized this was a member who gave them trouble about masks before. The owner spoke to the member on Aguilar’s speakerphone, but the individual hung up and refused to leave. It was finally decided that the gym would revoke the individual’s membership. He needed to leave. He didn’t, according to this story.
Aguilar said that he voiced his concerns to other gym members about a possible confrontation, then stepped between them and him because he was concerned about the individual going “bonkers,” breaking things, or hurting someone.
“Hooboy he REALLY didn’t like that,” Aguilar wrote. “That was what led to this video.”
And what a video it was.
“The world is so fucking weird,” Myers said. “Look at all these phones. Look at this. Look at you. The whole narrative. It’s all fucked up.” He later said, “It’s a joke. It’s a joke,” and told others in the video, “You’re ruining my fucking country.”
“I don’t know about you,” Myers told Aguilar, and began poking his chest. “I think you’re just a wannabe, still in high school, wannabe jock.”
“I am Mexican,” said Aguilar.
“Oh, you’re Mexican,” said Myers. “Great. It’s not a racist thing. It’s a liberal thing. Skin color doesn’t mean jack-fucking-shit at all. I wish you guys knew that. It doesn’t mean shit because how he’s treating me are based on assumptions made on actions. Actions. Actions. Actions.”
Aguilar said that the now-former member actually called the cops, telling police that Aguilar was a threat and a danger. Cops sided with the gym staffer because of the video, according to this post.
Myers allegedly wasn’t going to let this slide as police arrested him and took him away. From the post:
It’s worth nothing that on his way out, in the most low-budget, Scooby-Doo villain, hilarious way, he said “This isn’t over…”It’s also worth noting that WHILE I was writing that sentence, he called the gym and threatened me. Just now! In real time! Very cool.
According to this account of the incident, Myers shoved a 35-year-old man (ostensibly Aguilar). The defendant is charged with misdemeanor battery with physical contact, and criminal trespass to real property. He is scheduled for a court appearance to take place April 6. It is unclear if he has an attorney in this matter.
[Screengrab via Leo Mikulich/Facebook]