Viral video shows customers fighting bat-wielding cookie store owner against mask rule

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Two people were arrested and charged with assaulting the owner of a cookie store after refusing to wear masks in his store.

A viral video of the incident, which occurred Wednesday, according to the KOIN news station, shows them entering the Crumb Together store in Eugene, Oregon. The owner tells them that they cannot enter the store without a mask.

“Don’t you offer your services to the public? asks a man who is not visible but holds the camera which records the interaction.

“Yes, but the state requires you to be masked to enter anywhere inside,” replies the owner.

The man goes on to say that the owner cannot deny him service under federal law, while the owner maintains that she can.

The owner asks the couple to leave and approaches the other person, a woman, who tells the owner not to touch her.

“The worst thing you can do is put your hands on me now,” the woman said.

The owner does not touch her, but the woman pushes the owner, who then moves behind the counter to retrieve a baseball bat.

“Get out right away, I have the right to use reasonable force once I ask you to leave and you don’t go. Get out right away,” says the owner. As she approaches, the woman grabs the bat, and people in the store can no longer be seen clearly in the frame as an altercation begins.

Seconds later, the woman and the store owner can be seen fighting. The man holding the camera walks out of the store saying, “Someone is calling the police on this lady.” The two women can still be seen fighting and the owner can be heard screaming.

Finally, the woman comes out of the store and the man says, “You can’t assault people and run a business.”

Video of the altercation was shared widely on social media. A version of the video posted to Twitter by Ron Filipkowski had been viewed more than 550,000 times on Saturday.

The man and woman were later identified as Ricki Scott Collin and Amy Verlee Hall, of Portland, according to KOIN.

News station KABC reported that Collin and Hall showed officers their footage and said they had been attacked. They were then arrested for assault.

KOIN reported that the owner was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries as a result of the altercation.

The cookie shop received support from people across the country following the incident.

“Thank you all for your incredible support, compassion, love and understanding. We had a hell of a day,” Crumb Together wrote on Twitter Thursday.

“However, we have more orders than we can process, so we had to close our online store. Please check back with us next week,” the store added.

Newsweek contacted police in Eugene for further details on the incident, but did not receive a response until the publication on Saturday afternoon.