KANAB, Utah — A Kanab man caught on video last year coughing on Black Lives Matter protesters was arrested Monday for making threats to the administrator of a Facebook page.
Robert Brissette, 57, was arrested and booked on threat of violence and electronic communication harassment.
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According to the probable cause affidavit from Kane County, Brissette contacted the person who oversees the "Say it Kanab! Free Speech for All" Facebook page over the weekend.
Brissette messaged the man asking if he could help stop people from attacking him on the page. In the conversation, Brissette claims he is being bullied and says, "I will be going to jail for _____ people up if it continues."
During the conversation, Brissette says he has had 73 death threats and break-ins at his home since the video of him coughing on the protesters outside a gas station went viral.
The video taken during the height of the pandemic in Oct. 2020 shows a maskless Brissette walking up to a group of people and saying "Black Lives don't matter, all lives matter." He then coughed on the group multiple times.
Brissette messaged that he has taken responsibility for his actions, and tells the man he can't prove he's learned his lesson if he continues to be bullied.
"I reached out to you because I thought you would understand," wrote Brissette. "And would have alttle (sic) sympathy for the fact that I have been trying to make mends (sic)."
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The page's administrator replied that it is a free speech group page and he can't stop people from saying anything.
Brissette tells the man that people who harass him are on a "hit list" for "when I snap."
The administrator tells Brissette to never contact him again.
The affidavit says that Brissette also messaged another local resident and threatened them by implying that he would beat the person up if he ever saw him in town.
