It’s Now A Felony In IL to Assault A Worker, MI Should Do The Same

I think that this is something that Michigan should adopt as well, to help protect our "essential employees" who are being attacked for asking you to follow state guidelines to "mask up" when you enter any business,

WNEM reports that in Illinois, it's now a felony if you attack a business employee that asks that you put on a mask when inside the business, or to practice social distancing.  Those two things along with washing your hands more frequently are the three main ways to help stop or slow the spread of COVID-19 and two of those three things seem to be some of the hardest for people to do, as we've seen numerous stories of employees being attacked or even killed because they are "conveying public health guidance", as the Governor of Illinois put it when making the assault a felony.

According to WNEM, Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker's office said in a statement,

"This provision sends the message that it's vitally important for workers to be both respected and protected while serving on the front lines."

In Michigan, we've had at least three high profile incidents, including on July 14th, when a 77-year-old man was stabbed in the parking lot of Quality Dairy in Lansing by a 43-year-old man, after employees told the younger man to put on a mask. According to the Lansing State Journal, the 77-year-old man died after being in critical condition for nearly a month and employees say the man was an innocent bystander.

Or the day before on July 13th, in Acme Township when Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department were looking for a man who pulled a knife on a Miejer employee, fortunately, she was unharmed.

Also, let's not forget about the most senseless attack that left a Family Dollar security guard dead, back on May 4th, in Genesee County, when he asked a customer to have her daughter put on a mask. She refused, later her husband and son came back and killed the guard.

Like the mask mandate or not, these are people just trying to make their lower-than-should-be wage,  as well as, staying employed and follow health gudelines set forth by state health deparmtents. They need some protections since they're getting the physical brunt of other's anger - and they didn't create the rules, they just asked you to follow them, which is why I think we should step up the punishment for assaults on emlpoyees.