Ash Sherilynn OBrien and her husband were having a picnic in a public park in San Diego when the incident took place on July 24.
Luckily, the ordeal was filmed by a passerby while it was happening.
While wearing masks are highly encouraged in a number of situations, social media users came to the couple’s defense, saying that you obviously cannot eat while wearing one.
OBrien shared the video on Facebook to explain what happened:
“So this happened today at dusty Rhodes dog park today in ocean beach. This is my husband getting maced by a random old lady. We had our 3-month-old pug with us. We were just sitting down eating lunch and minding our own business. We were not wearing masks because we were eating. You can’t wear a mask and eat at the same time.”
“She kept calling us idiots and flipping me off. Then she started saying more stuff and I told her to leave the park and stop harassing us.
She then came right up to our table where we were eating, pointed the mace at me first, and got a little on me, and then my husband stepped in and took the entire can. Thank god for the bystander that took this video because we are going to the police now to press charges.
”
In the video that was shared, OBrien can be heard crying hysterically, while the woman recording the video repeatedly tells the woman who maced the couple that it was ‘not OK’.
OBrien explained that she shared the video to warn others of this particular woman in San Diego, and encouraged people to share it to raise awareness. She added that she and her husband ‘want justice’.
In a separate post on Facebook, OBrien responded to people asking why her husband, who chose not to be named, did not physically respond to the woman’s actions.
The post read:
“So I would like to address something right now. A lot of people are saying he should’ve gotten physical with the KAREN but if we did the entire case would’ve gone in her favor [sic]. My husband is a very mature man and I wouldn’t have wanted him to handle the situation any other way.”
“All we want from this is for her to get arrested so she can’t put any people or animals at risk. We are not looking for money or anything like that. We just want this woman in jail.”
OBrien concluded the second post further appealing for information on the woman who maced her and her husband.