He beat up a man who told him to wear a mask in Key West, police said
A 60-year-old Key West man was arrested Friday night after police said he attacked a man who insisted he wear a face mask on Duval Street.
Kenneth George Harmon slapped Paul Murphy, of Key West, in the face and then shoved him to the pavement the night of Aug. 27 outside an ice cream shop in the 1100 block of Duval, according to the arrest affidavit.
The reason?
Murphy told Harmon and his friend they needed to put on face masks, police reported.
Murphy said he was only trying to protect his town in the time of COVID-19, according to the arrest warrant.
A “verbal debate” followed and then the alleged assault, Murphy told police.
In Key West, the mandatory mask ordinance requires masks be worn outside whether or not people can social distance in an effort to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Harmon’s booking information was not immediately available, but Monroe County Sheriff’s Office jail records online show he was at the Stock Island Detention Center on Friday night.
Murphy, who works at The Saint Hotel, this week had surgery to repair a broken collarbone, police said.
The night of the alleged attack, Murphy posted on his Facebook page about the incident.
“I was beaten by a local tonight because I asked him and his lady friend to wear a mask,” Murphy wrote. “I was punched to the ground on Duval and I am in excruciating pain with a dislocated shoulder.”
The post inspired locals to start an online fundraiser to help Murphy, who is uninsured, pay his medical bills.
As of Friday night, the fund has raised more than $43,000, out of a goal of $40,000.
Video proves the attack was unprovoked, police said
Murphy took a photo of Harmon that he showed to police, who met with Harmon at his home on Thursday.
Harmon said Murphy was harassing him and his friend, Amie Lynn Brown, and that Murphy touched Brown in a nonviolent way, police said.
But Harmon said he took the touch as being disrespectful and pushed Murphy to the ground.
“Harmon said it was a simple push and no one got injured,” Key West Police Det. Marcus del Valle wrote in the affidavit.
Harmon also said Murphy appeared to be hurt when he first approached him and that the injury could have happened before he had contact with Murphy.
However, del Valle wrote in the affidavit that the video shows Harmon attacking Murphy without provocation.
The security camera at the Flamingo Crossing ice cream shop, 1105 Duval St., captured the incident.
On the video, Murphy is seen walking on the sidewalk across the street as he starts talking to a man, later identified as Harmon, and a woman, who are seated at a table outside the ice cream shop.
Murphy, “who appears to be intoxicated,” police said, crosses the street and sits on a short concrete wall next to the couple, continuing to speak with them.
Then, Harmon “without provocation” stands up and strikes Murphy in the face, the affidavit states.
Murphy gets up and has his back to Harmon when Harmon jumps from the concrete wall onto Murphy, police said.
“The male’s actions were so forceful that he himself fell to his knees after pushing Murphy,” del Valle wrote in the affidavit.
Murphy was on the pavement grabbing his left shoulder, the video shows, and then he is able to get up and walk away.
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Brown told police that Harmon pushed Murphy down and Murphy kept coming back at him “like a boomerang,” police said. She said they later met with a police officer to report Murphy was following them.
Murphy told police he had had five vodka drinks that night.
An officer who made the original report said that “due to Murphy’s level of intoxication,” he couldn’t determine if he had been battered or had instead fallen, according to the affidavit.
