Woman Arrested After Pepper-Spraying Boy, Mother Over COVID Delta Variant

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Seattle Police said officers arrested a woman accused of attacking a 7-year-old boy and his mother at Pike Place Market over COVID-19, KOMO reports.

The incident began Monday evening (July 26) when the mother and her child got in the elevator to pick up her daughter from daycare, according to officials. The mother told authorities she heard a woman, identified as 32-year-old Czarina Lee Slape, mumbling, swearing, and screaming at herself.

When the mother asked Slape if she was okay, Slape said, "If you talk to me again I'm going to mace you," court records say. When the woman mentioned that she had to go around Slape to leave the elevator, that's when Slape maced both her and the child, according to police. The mother told officers she hit Slape before running from the scene with a stroller.

Slape told authorities she was protecting herself because she was at high risk for COVID-19 and worried about the Delta variant, a report says. The suspect also claimed self-defense because the mother yelled at her before she "accidentally sprayed her," reporters learned.

"We understand that people are concerned about the variant, but you can’t attack people who aren’t wearing a mask," Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Slape was booked into the King County Jail Tuesday (July 27) on felony charges of third-degree assault of a child and a third-degree assault.

KOMO learned that Slape had previous run-ins with the law, including 21 arrests and three cases that ended in convictions. Two cases led to a guilty plea in Mental Health Court, they added.


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