KITCHENER -- Police in Guelph, Ont. say a man has been arrested after a grocery store clerk was assaulted in the city last week.
According to a statement released by police, a customer was waiting in the checkout line of a store near Eramosa Road and Stevenson Street North at 6:45 p.m. on April 1 when they became impatient.
Police allege the individual then "spit on an adult female clerk, striking her in the left arm and chest", and then left the store.
Officials also released photos of a man and woman they were looking to speak with in connection to this incident.
After the images were shared on social media, police said they were able to identify the customer responsible.
A 21-year-old man from St. Thomas has been charged with assault.
He is set to appear in court on July 17th.
Officials have also confirmed that the woman in the photo was not involved with the incident.
In a statement, parent company Loblaw confirms it happened at a Zehrs.
In its email to CTV, Loblaw Public Relations referred to Galen Weston's recent letter to customers.
In it, he said he is "troubled by growing reports of people ignoring social distancing requests while shopping. Some people are coming in groups or bringing family, treating shopping as a social outing. Others are making uncomfortable jokes about being COVID-19 positive while leaning around protective screens.
"On the surface, these kinds of actions seem harmless, but they are quite concerning for other customers and colleagues."
During the pandemic, grocery stores need to put measures in place to practice physical distancing and police say that customers need to respect these measures as well as employees.
"When I hear something like this it breaks my heart," says Const. Kyle Grant, Guelph police media officer.
"People who are a part of these essential services are quite frankly risking their lives making sure that people have what they need. In this case, having the groceries and the food that they need. And to have something like this happen to them is quite troubling, quite difficult to understand."
Carmine Caccioppoli, co-owner of Waterloo grocery store Vincezo's, says many rules have been put in place for staff to keep the place sanitary
