ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A Central Florida EMT fed up with COVID-19, social distancing, and face masks unleashed his frustration upon a hardware-store cashier by intentionally coughing on her early Tuesday, an arrest report says.

Christopher Canfora arrested, charged with aggravated assault

EMT for private firm denies intentional cough at hardware store

DeBary man says no one understands his sense of humor

Christopher Canfora, a licensed emergency medical technician, made a remark at an Orange City Harbor Freight Tools about tape on the floor designed to help customers remain six feet apart and comply with social-distancing guidelines.

“This is all getting out of hand. This is why everywhere I go I cough behind everyone with a mask on,” Canfora, 49, said before intentionally hacking at a 21-year-old woman and her register in the bagging area, deputies said.

Canfora worked part time for American Medical Response in Sumter County as a field technician, according to Terence Ramotar, a public-information officer for the Southeast region for AMR, a private medical transport company.

"We were informed that a part time employee, Chris Canfora, has been arrested on charges unrelated to his employment at AMR," Tawnya Silloway, national manager of public relations for Global Medical Response, AMR's parent company. "Mr. Canfora has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. The leave will remain in effect until the resolution of the investigation."

Canfora bought two steel hub tires, one tire-chuck device, and a 3-foot rubber air hose before leaving the store at 2401 Enterprise Road.

He allegedly said he was heading to a Winn-Dixie to cough on more people.

Deputies later reviewed his customer-reward account to determine his identity, home address, and phone number. They spotted the items he bought at Harbor Freight Tools when they went to his nearby DeBary home just before 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Canfora denied coughing on anyone and implied he was joking, his arrest report said.

“Canfora stated he did not expect anyone to understand his sense of humor,” a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report said.

Canfora was charged with aggravated assault with an intent to commit a felony.

The charge, a third-degree felony, is punishable by up to five years in prison. He bonded out of the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach after posting a $5,000 bond.

A woman who answered the phone at Canfora’s house told Spectrum News he wasn’t home and hung up. A message left on his cell phone wasn’t returned.

The hardware-store cashier said Canfora started laughing at the social-distancing signals on the floor of Harbor Freight Tools as he approached her at 9:10 a.m. Such measures were imposed as COVID-19 cases surged in this country.

The U.S. has more than 370,000 COVID-19 cases, and more than 12,000 people have died nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to his arrest report, Canfora described himself to deputies as very "happy-go-lucky."

“Canfora stated he did not cough on anyone, but remembered saying to the cashier how the virus was getting out of control and everyone was coughing while standing in his 'little square,' " meaning the social-distancing area marked by tape on the floor.

Canfora said he told the cashier he was heading to Winn-Dixie "but reiterated he did not say he was going to cough on anybody," the report added. He told deputies he didn’t have any COVID-19 symptoms.