Mask comment sparks punch at West Mifflin Target

WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — A trip to Target in West Mifflin turned into a trip to the hospital for a man shopping with his wife and two young daughters. He told Channel 11 he made a comment about his mask bothering him. A woman overheard the comment and then another man knocked him out cold.

“I’m not an aggressive person. I’m not going to fight somebody. I didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want to be in that situation,” said Jake Forsyth.

Forsyth said he muttered to himself that he can’t wait to take his mask off but a woman nearby thought he was talking about her mask.

“I said ‘Oh ma’am, I’m sorry. I wasn’t talking about your mask. I was talking to myself. I apologize.’ She didn’t want to hear it,” Forsyth said.

He said he tried to defuse the situation and asked the woman to not curse in front of his children. The woman then called for her husband or boyfriend to come over. Forsyth said the man didn’t want to hear his apology and instead rolled up his sleeves.

“That’s when I turned around and that’s all I remember,” he said. “They said the reason why I was knocked out so cold was that I smacked my forehead right on the ground, like hard.”

The next thing he knew, he was waking up on the floor in the store. He had a severe concussion, cuts to his face and sinus fractures. Forsyth said he can’t go to work and still needs help getting out of a chair. He said he’s more concerned about what his daughters witnessed.

“I just want to show them that yeah, there are bad people out there that do this but the right thing will happen,” Forsyth said.

Gauging long term effectiveness of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

Cox Media Group