Mask Mayhem At Mettawa Costco
METTAWA, Ill. (CBS) -- A Chicago educator arrested for trying to teach a lesson in a disturbing way.
Apparently outraged over a man not wearing a mask at a store, deputies said she spat in his face claiming to have COVID-19.
CBS's Steven Graves spoke to the woman and she told a different story.
It's shock, disbelief and denial from her. She claimed none of this happened the way it's being portrayed. But deputies said they have a grade A case against the teacher.
At a Costco in Mettawa, the message is clear and posted on the door. But Lake County sheriff's deputies said Elizabeth Mach took enforcement into her own hands after a man took his mask off while exiting the store.
Officers say she rammed her cart into his telling him to put it back on. He ignored her, so she yelled "I am a school teacher and I have COVID-19."
She then took off her mask and spit in his face, deputies said, leaving the store in her car, back on June 16.
Mach's arrest came Wednesday. She claimed the allegations are false. Over the phone, she admitted to being a proud Chicago public school teacher. One who claimed to know the seriousness of spitting and claiming to have the coronavirus. She said she would never do such a thing.
She said at the Costco, she did not ram her cart but did tell the man to wear a mask. It came, she said, after he was rude to store workers at the checkout.
Deputies said it's her word against cameras that caught the whole thing.
It's unclear if it's cellphone video, like at a Florida Costco, where a man goes on a rampage after being asked to wear a mask.
And another, where a woman in a McHenry Home Depot got upset during a mask dispute and claimed "white power." She too was arrested and charged.
Mach faces battery and disorderly conduct charges. She's out on bond. The teacher, now assigned to a day in court, to fight her case. No formal interview or statement from Mach. She's already retained a lawyer.
Also, no word form Chicago Public Schools or Costco.