Felony Rap For Coughing In Face Of Paramedic

MARCH 22--A woman arrested for assaulting her boyfriend shouted “I have the coronavirus” before intentionally coughing in the face of a paramedic who she sprayed with “copious amounts of saliva,” police charge.

Responding early Wednesday to a domestic violence call in Lady Lake, an Orlando suburb, police encountered the bloodied victim. The man, whose nose was broken, told officers that he had been attacked by his girlfriend, LaDonald Shakkie Holmes.

The man said he was lying in bed with Holmes, 38, when she “told the victim she wanted to have sex,” according to a probable cause affidavit. The victim recalled that he declined to engage with Holmes “since she is leaving him to get back with her ex-husband.”

Rebuffed, Holmes became “very agitated at which time she ‘round house kicked’ the victim in the nose and then punched him in the nose,” cops allege. “That resulted in the victim’s nose breaking, the victim then started bleeding all over himself and the residence.”

Pictured above, Holmes is a “black belt in martial arts,” the affidavit reveals.

When officers responded to the residence, Holmes was arrested for battering her boyfriend. As cops tried to get her into a squad car, Holmes “kept falling to the ground,” prompting them to summon EMS workers since it was unclear whether she "was having a medical episode.”

As paramedics sought to evaluate Holmes, she became physically combative. After an EMS worker “sedated the arrestee,” Holmes was being placed on a stretcher when she shouted “I have the coronavirus.” Holmes then allegedly coughed directly on the face of an EMS worker, which “resulted in copious amounts of saliva landing on the paramedic’s face.”

Holmes was subsequently transported to a local hospital for further evaluation, though the court filing does not indicate whether she, in fact, has the infectious coronavirus. The affidavit does not reveal what treatment, if any, was afforded the paramedic.

Holmes is facing a pair of felony counts--domestic battery and battery on a paramedic. She was released from the county jail late Thursday after posting $7000 bond. Holmes, whose rap sheet includes several prior battery convictions, is scheduled for arraignment on April 13. (2 pages)