A Tallahassee woman was arrested and charged with battery after throwing a drink on U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz at the South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival.
Selena Jo Chambers, 41, was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of battery on an elected official, which is a felony.
A Walton County Sheriff’s Office report on the incident stated that Gaetz told police Chambers threw a drink at him while walking past him at the event.
The report said Gaetz told police he wanted to press criminal charges against her for throwing the drink.
The report said Chambers recognized Gaetz while walking at the event and began cursing at him and throwing her drink at him.
Gaetz was speaking with another person at the time, and the drink hit both of them.
Chambers told police she was walking and tripped and spilled her drink on Gaetz, though she recognized Gaetz before spilling her drink on him.
The woman with Chambers told police she was the one who cursed at Gaetz as they walked passed.
Chambers was arrested at the event and transported to the Walton County Jail.
On his “Firebrand” podcast on Tuesday, Gaetz addressed the incident.
“We were enjoying catching up with new friends and old, and folks recognized me, and we were taking pictures and having polite conversations,” Gaetz said. “As I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us.”
Gaetz defended pressing charges against Chambers saying he had no problem with facing criticism, but it crossed the line when it became physical.
“If we start allowing stuff to be thrown or hurled, if we allow people to be harmed, there is a severe risk of escalation and accident,” Gaetz said. “And we don’t want to see anyone in harm’s way, whether it’s family members, supporters or even our detractors. We want them to be safe too, but when they really cross the Rubicon beyond just words to throwing stuff and striking me and striking a gentleman I was speaking with, with a drink, then that has really caused harm to our community. And it’s something that we want to contain and extinguish and not see going forward.”
It’s the second time Gaetz has had a drink thrown at him in public. In 2019, Amanda Kondrat’yev was sentenced to 15 days in prison for throwing a drink at Gaetz as he left a campaign event in Pensacola.