{"id":52209,"date":"2020-08-11T13:03:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T19:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/altercation-over-face-masks-escalates-into-violence-at-durango-store\/"},"modified":"2020-08-11T19:03:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T19:03:42","slug":"altercation-over-face-masks-escalates-into-violence-at-durango-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/altercation-over-face-masks-escalates-into-violence-at-durango-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Altercation over face masks escalates into violence at Durango store"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A Durango woman has been cited with disorderly conduct for punching a man at O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts over a disagreement about wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span>Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A 23-year-old Durango woman has been cited with disorderly conduct on suspicion of punching a man in the face after a dispute about wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Durango Police Department Cmdr. Ray Shupe said officers were called to O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts at 2475 Main Ave. around 6:15 p.m. Friday after the alleged male victim and multiple witnesses alerted authorities of the incident.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, the woman, identified as Sadie Wendt, was in line to check out at O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts when she started asking the store manager why customers were not wearing face masks.<\/p>\n

An intense verbal altercation occurred between Wendt and other customers in line who were not wearing face masks. During the argument, police said Wendt walked up to a man not wearing a face mask and punched him in the face.<\/p>\n

Shupe said the man, identified as Ryan Bartholomew, 38, of Bayfield tried to defend himself and took Wendt to the ground. Bartholomew then reportedly tried multiple times to keep Wendt on the ground until police could arrive.<\/p>\n

Wendt, however, left the store and drove away. She, too, called police to report the incident.<\/p>\n

Shupe said Wendt was cited with disorderly conduct. He said multiple witnesses in the store corroborated that Wendt was the instigator in the situation and that Bartholomew took actions only to defend himself.<\/p>\n

Wendt told The Durango Herald<\/em> on Monday that only a small number of people in the store Friday were wearing masks, and she expressed to the store manager that it was an unsafe environment.<\/p>\n

She said five to eight people in line then started screaming at her that she was a \u201clibtard,\u201d that it was a \u201cfree country\u201d and that it is \u201ca constitutional right to not wear a mask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendt said Bartholomew told her to \u201cchoke yourself with your mask.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went up and hit him in the face because I felt threatened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wendt contends that Bartholomew threw her to the ground, put her in a chokehold and started beating her. Wendt said she eventually got free, but Bartholomew blocked the exit until the store manager intervened.<\/p>\n

\"Durango
Durango resident Sadie Wendt said she has marks on her neck from where a man held her to the ground after an argument over wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/span>Courtesy of Sadie Wendt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Wendt said there were bruises on her leg, marks on her neck, and her back is in severe pain from being hit in the back. She said she went to the hospital to get \u201cproof for court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis natural instinct was self-defense,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what happened after initial self-defense was uncalled for and unsafe. I was scared for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shupe said multiple witness statements do not align with Wendt\u2019s account of the incident. Wendt responded that authorities talked to witnesses who were not wearing masks and on Bartholomew\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Bartholomew declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n

Bartholomew, speaking to officers, said Wendt was \u201crunning her mouth\u201d and he told her to \u201cshut up,\u201d according to a police report. He then told officers he grabbed Wendt and \u201cput her on the ground\u201d in self-defense.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Herald<\/em>, Curtis Wood, manager on duty at the time of the incident, said Bartholomew did hold Wendt down by the neck, but never struck her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a volley of words and name-calling back and forth \u2026 then she walked through the crowd and punched this guy in the face,\u201d Wood said. \u201cHe never, ever struck her. He defended himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood said no security camera is in the store, which is the same location where a police-involved shooting<\/a> occurred July 1, resulting in the death of a Pagosa Springs man. He said up to 10 people gave witness statements to police.<\/p>\n

\u201cWitnesses are against her because she\u2019s telling lies,\u201d Wood said. \u201cHer story is not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood said he does not require masks in the store because it is a \u201cmandate\u201d and not an enforceable law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t make them,\u201d Wood said. \u201cAnd now this whole thing has blown completely out of proportion and I\u2019m getting threatening calls at work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendt said she intends to press charges against Bartholomew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be fighting this for justice, because what happened is not OK,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Shupe said since masks became mandatory in Durango, there have been several instances of verbal altercations, but this is the first situation where the issue of masks escalated into violence.<\/p>\n

Shupe said officers have not written a citation for the mask ordinance, preferring instead to focus on education and verbal warnings. Bartholomew was not cited for not wearing a mask, but those charges could be added on by the 6th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office at a later date, Shupe said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

with disorderly conduct after punching man<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,168,1065,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-52209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-crime","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52209"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=52209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}