Shoppers tackle man who started coughing and SPITTING on food at Massachusetts grocery store

A 65-year-old man deliberately coughed and spat on food in a Massachusetts grocery store.

The man, from Duxbury, was tackled to the floor by other shoppers before the police arrived at the Stop & Shop in Kingston, Massachusetts.

The man was taken to hospital as a precaution but police say they do not think he has deadly coronavirus, which has killed more than 10,000 people and infected more than 360,000 in the US alone. 

Witnesses said the 'extremely aggressive' man tried to punch an employee who intervened after he was seen coughing and spitting on produce. 

Video footage recorded at the scene shows the man - whose name has not been released by police - being held down by three other men.

One can be heard shouting 'don't try to get up'. 

If the man returns to the shop, he will be arrested for trespassing, the Patriot Ledger reported.

Kyle Mann, 18, who recorded the video, said: 'I was shopping in the produce [aisle], when all of a sudden I turned the corner. 

'I saw a worker and the man yelling with other people watching.

'While that was happening, I heard them talking about him spitting and coughing on the produce, which is how I learned what happened seconds after I arrived and shot the video.'

Any items that could have been contaminated have been thrown away by staff and the area has been deep cleaned and disinfected.