- A woman intentionally threw a drink at Rep. Matt Gaetz during an event on Saturday, police said.
- Gaetz decided to press ahead with criminal charges against the woman.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has pressed ahead with criminal charges against a woman who threw a drink at him during a food and wine festival on Saturday night.
The woman, 41-year-old Selena Jo Chambers, intentionally hurled a glass of wine at the congressman after recognizing him, before proceeding to curse at the event in Miramar Beach, Florida, Walton County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Gaetz was speaking with another person, identified as Blaine Odom, at the time. Odom was also hit by the drink, per the Pensacola News Journal.
Odom told police that Chambers was "yelling and flipping him off" as she walked away, according to an arrest report reviewed by CNBC.
According to CNBC, Chambers told police that she was "walking and tripped and spilled her drink" on Gaetz, while adding that she had consumed alcohol at the festival.
A woman with Chambers told police that she was actually the one who cursed at Gaetz as they walked past, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
But other witnesses told police that they witnessed Chambers hurl the drink, per CNBC.
Chambers was arrested at the event and later transported to Walton County Jail, where she was charged with battery on an elected official and issued a $1,000 bond, police said. She was released the next day.
"We cannot allow an environment where you can throw things at elected officials because you don't like them," Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson said in a statement.
Gaetz told police that he wanted to press criminal charges against Chambers, confirming in a statement shared on his website that he will be doing so to "uphold the civility our community deserves."
He said on his podcast on Tuesday that he had been "enjoying catching up" with friends when the woman threw the drink, later accusing her of crossing "the Rubicon beyond just words to throwing stuff."
This is the second time Gaetz has had a drink thrown at him resulting in criminal charges, with the first incident leading to a prison sentence.
In 2019, Amanda Kondrat'yev threw a red slushy drink at Gaetz during a campaign event. Kondrat'yev, who briefly ran against Gaetz as a Democrat in 2016, was sentenced to 15 days in prison for assaulting a congressman.