Authorities: Domestic Violence Defendant Coughs At Officers Going To, At Guttenberg Police HQ

A Union City man arrested on domestic violence charges coughed in the back of a Guttenberg police car all the way to headquarters, saying he was trying to infect officers with the coronavirus, authorities said Thursday.

Jerry DeMarco

04/23/2020 6:18 p.m.

Elvis Perez-Astacio, 25, at first resisted arrest and threatened to harm an officer when they found him, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.

Once they put him in the police cruiser, he “said he would cough on the officers and infect them with COVID-19, [then] coughed throughout the trip to headquarters and while being processed,” Grewal said.

Police charged Perez-Astacio with two counts of making terroristic threats, resisting arrest, simple assault, marijuana-related offenses and violating state coronavirus emergency closure orders.

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