Coffee, Talibah

Applicant Talibah Coffee, a Deputy Probation Officer assigned to a polling site during COVID, engaged in a verbal confrontation with a news photographer (Mr. Medina) about his filming, then physically put her hands on his camera lens and moved it before the altercation escalated and she was injured. The WCJ found applicant was the initial physical aggressor, barring her claim under Labor Code section 3600(a)(7). Applicant sought reconsideration, arguing that moving the camera was not physical violence and would not create a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm in Mr. Medina. The Board concurred with the WCJ that touching and pushing aside the camera was the first act introducing physical violence into the confrontation, that a reasonable person would perceive it as a real, present, and apparent threat of bodily harm, and that later escalation by an opponent does not absolve the initial aggressor. The Board accorded great weight to the WCJ's credibility determination favoring Mr. Medina and denied reconsideration.