A man repeatedly spit in the back of a Madison Police Department squad car, while telling the officers he was contaminating surfaces after being arrested for drunken driving Monday morning, according to an MPD incident report.
The man, James A. Bailey, 73, told officers the COVID-19 virus can be present for several hours.
Bailey was tentatively charged with several charges including threatening a law enforcement officer and operating a motor vehicle while under influence, according to the report.
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The incident report said a witness had reported to the police that Bailey was driving erratically in the Library Mall pedestrian area.
According to the report, Bailey did not show any COVID-19 symptoms, but the MPD’s COVID-19 Task Force needed to thoroughly clean the back of the squad car due to the large amounts of saliva.