Camera captures violent dispute at Walgreens over coronavirus mask order

LAS CRUCES - A confrontation over wearing a face mask at a Walgreens was captured on the store's security camera. The footage from June 22 shows both parties involved in the incident getting physical with one another.

Lynn Moorer, the alleged battery victim, told the Sun-News that when she walked into the Walgreens at 3100 N. Main St., she questioned a couple that wasn't wearing face masks. She said the man asked her to show him the “law,” so she pulled out the governor’s executive order requiring masks. The man then presumably hit her on the face and she called the police.

More:Woman allegedly struck in a Walgreens over face mask dispute

According to the police report and security footage, Moorer was the first to get physical with the man. She waved the printed executive order in the man’s face a couple of times before the man hit her.

“Officers notified me in the video it appeared to show Ms. Moorer hitting him twice in the face with the paper and this is what urged the male subject to strike Ms. Moorer in the face,” Andrew Lazarin, LCPD reporting officer, stated in the report.

Before police arrived, Moorer attempted to get the license plate number of the vehicle the couple were driving. Security footage from the store also captured a tense moment in the parking lot as the man gets in Moorer's face, but doesn't appear to contact her.

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The license plate number Moorer gave the police was later found to be either a partial or incorrect number. The man involved in the incident has not been found.

Lazarin said fire services were called to give Moorer medical attention, and Moorer said she refused further treatment. Lazarin said he took photos of Moorer’s cheeks but did not observe physical marks, bruises or injuries that matched her statement.

With the second party unidentified, there have been no further actions taken on the battery report, however, Moorer said she is still interested in pressing charges.

Moorer said she saw the camera footage Tuesday, June 30, and said the camera angle is not "terrific" and she does not believe she initiated contact.

"If a corner of the paper had touched him, I do not think that that would justify him smacking me across the face," Moorer said. "The very, very, very first thing one of those police officers said to me when they arrived was, 'oh, you shouldn't even be trying to enforce this.'" Moorer said she got the impression from the police that they were not interested in holding the man accountable.

She said she does not think there are substantial grounds for the man to reciprocate and press charges against her because "if the guy thought he had a case against me, of any kind, he would have waited for the police to have arrived." Since the incident, she said she has heard from acquaintances as well as strangers who have relayed their own stories of witnessing mask noncompliance.

"I did not run away. I was there and doing what I can to try to help make sure that the governor's order, at least with respect to the face masks, (is) enforced, because they are important," Moorer said. "My getting smacked across the face is not that important at all as compared to the risk of catching the COVID-19 disease."

Leah Romero is a fellow with the New Mexico Local News Fund and can be reached at lromero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.