CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - A jogger told police that a man walking with two young children pulled a knife on him last week in Cambridge while claiming he was not practicing safe social distancing.
The incident occurred near an intersection along Putnam Avenue around 5:15 p.m. on April 20, according to the jogger’s statement to police.
He told them he was planning to go into the street to make room for social distancing but before that could happen, the runner said the man pulled a knife out and told him to “get the ‘expletive’ on the other side of the street.”
People who run in the area said they were surprised to hear something like this had happened.
“That’s really scary and disappointing because these ordinances asking people to wear masks are meant to make people safer so it’s strange people are maybe overreacting; in ways people are less safe,” runner Alex Berke said.
Runners told 7NEWS they have noticed people being more vocal about distancing and wearing masks.
“It has to be a balance of that public safety while also treating each other with empathy and being safe together,” runner Isaac Galef-Brown said.
Police say they did find a 43-year-old man matching the jogger’s description on Dodge Street that same night.
The man allegedly denied pulling out a knife but said he did remember telling someone to cross the street to keep a distance.
The man allowed officers to search him and they did not find a weapon, police said.
They later found a pocket knife with a four-inch blade in a yard bag on Dodge Street, just a few houses down from where they spoke to that man, police added.
The jogger decided not to press charges.
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