Florida Woman Sentenced For Coughing On Cancer Patient In Viral Video

A Florida woman was handed a jail sentence Thursday (April 8) after she was caught on camera coughing on a cancer patient last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to NBC Miami.

A judge in Jacksonville sentenced Debra Hunter to 30 days in jail and ordered her to pay a $500 fine, serve six months probation and participate in a mental health evaluation along with anger management, the state attorney's office told reporters via email. Hunter was also ordered to cover the costs of the victim's COVID-19 test, officials added. She has a credit for her time due to serving a day in jail, officials added.

Hunter was jailed last June after a video showed her deliberately coughing on Heather Sprague during an argument with employees inside a Pier 1 store, reporters said. Sprague recorded the encounter, prompting Hunter to make a rude gesture at the victim before threatening to cough on her, according to investigators.

Sprague told Judge James Ruth she is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor and spent days searching for a place she and her family can get tested. The tests came out negative, she added.

“I worried for the health and safety of my children, and wondered how in the world I could possibly isolate to protect them — in a household of 12 — if I had been intentionally infected,” Sprague said.

During the sentencing trial in Duval County Court, Hunter told the judge her family had paid the price for her mistakes, such as her kids losing friends. "I watch as my kids lower their heads and turn the opposite direction, so they won’t be recognized or approached,” she told the judge. "And I know exactly what they’re feeling because I do the same thing." Her husband alleged claimed they lost everything recently in a house fire, leaving Hunter overwhelmed.

Ruth had this to say about Hunter's testimony before sentencing her:

“Her children didn’t create this problem and her husband didn’t, and she talked about how it changed her world and she was getting nastygrams on Facebook and things of that nature and they can’t go to their country club or wherever. But I have yet to see any expression, or a significant expression on her regret about the impact it had on the victim in this case!”

Photo: Jacksonville Sheriff's Office