Florida man accused of spitting on Walmart employee, yelling racial slurs at deputy

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man was caught on surveillance camera spitting on a Walmart employee before yelling racial slurs at a deputy, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

On Friday evening, deputies responded to a Walmart on Cypress Point Parkway in Palm Coast regarding reports of a battery.

A Walmart employee told officials a customer spit in her face after she got into an altercation with them.

The customer, identified as Channing Cooks, 37, of Palm Coast, tried to do a return without a receipt and reportedly got upset over the incident. The victim told deputies Cooks lunged at her and repeatedly spit in her face yelling, “I have a cold.”

Cooks was stopped in his vehicle at a nearby CVS, where he claimed to have “inadvertently sneezed” on the victim while talking to her about exchanging baby formula.

He was arrested for battery and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. During his trip in the patrol car over, he yelled out racial slurs at the deputy.

Cooks was released on a $2,500 bond.

In 2018, Cooks was arrested for domestic battery and violating probation in 2019. He previously served 10 years for a 2006 armed robbery in Putnam County.

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