Fired teacher charged with coughing on child
SAN JOSE >> A fired San Jose teacher accused of intentionally coughing on a 1-year-old boy in a stroller at a Yogurtland in June, in an apparent spat over COVID-19 distancing still is being sought by police and has an assault charge waiting for her in Santa Clara County, according to authorities and court records.
Nancy Nordland, 65, has been charged with misdemeanor assault by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, even though San Jose police have yet to locate her following the June 12 incident at the Yogurtland on Cottle Road.
Public records show Nordland has current listed residences both in San Jose, where she had been a special education teacher with the Oak Grove Union School District, and in Nevada. The pending charges against her, filed July 14, first were reported Wednesday by San Jose Inside.
“The complaint has been filed, and the court has issued a warrant for defendant Nordland’s arrest,” Deputy District Attorney Aidan Welsh said in an email. “Police
have not yet been able to locate defendant Nordland.”
Nordland could not be reached for comment. But her husband, when reached by phone Wednesday, strongly refuted the allegations.
“My wife has been accused on the internet of things she did not do,” Todd Norland told a reporter with this news organization. “She has received death threats as a consequence. Shame on you for reporting and investigating and propagating this fake news.”
According to police and prosecutors, a woman since identified as Nordland removed her face mask and intentionally coughed two to three times into the child’s face at the dessert shop. Police contend that Nordland was upset that the child’s mother was not “maintaining proper social distancing,” according to San Jose police Sgt. Enrique Garcia, but surveillance footage shows the child’s mother stopping on a bright pink line on the floor.
“Even if we were not in the middle of a pandemic, the defendant’s actions would be unacceptable,” Welsh said. “It is now more important than ever to treat each other with compassion and exercise personal responsibility.”
The mother, Mireya Mora, told ABC7 News in June that she believes the woman’s actions were racially motivated.
“I believe this woman may be racist because the family in front of her is white,” Mora said. “Me and my grandma are Hispanic, and she started telling me about my distance and harassing me and my son once I started speaking Spanish to my grandma.”
The ensuing public outrage over the encounter — especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic — fueled international headlines, prompted a police investigation, led to a massive internet sleuthing effort that identified her as a teacher with the Oak Grove district and called for her firing. In early July, the district announced she no longer was working there.
“We do not tolerate conduct from any employee that compromises any child’s safety,” Oak Grove Superintendent Jose Manzo said in a statement, in which he added that the Yogurtland incident also spurred threats against the district.