Woman charged with battery for throwing drink on Gaetz

A Tallahassee woman was arrested and charged with battery for throwing a drink on Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Saturday.

Selena Chambers, 41, allegedly threw her drink on the Florida congressman at the South Walton Beaches Wine and Food Festival. She was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of battery on an elected official.

“We were enjoying catching up with new friends and old, and folks recognized me. And so, we were taking pictures and having polite conversations,” Gaetz said Tuesday on his “Firebrand” podcast. “And as I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us.”

Chambers claimed that she was “walking and tripped and spilled her drink” on Gaetz, whom she recognized prior to the incident, according to a police report.

Gaetz said he decided to press charges against Chambers to “uphold the civility our community deserves.” Both he and the man he was talking to when Chambers allegedly threw the drink asked to press charges, according to the police report.

“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 on his podcast. “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,” he continued. “And it’s something that we want to contain and extinguish and not see going forward.”

Another woman, Amanda Kondrat’yev, was sentenced to 15 days in jail in 2019, after she threw a drink at Gaetz at an event in Pensacola, Fla.