Woman arrested for throwing drink at Rep. Matt Gaetz after town hall
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The woman who threw a drink at Rep. Matt Gaetz at his "Won't Back Down" town hall in Pensacola on Saturday was caught on video by a bystander.
Amanda Kondrat'yev, 35, was arrested Saturday and charged with battery for throwing a drink at Gaetz as he was leaving his town hall at the Brew Ha Ha restaurant, an arrest report stated.
The plastic cup, filled with a red liquid, struck him in the chest. Pensacola Police Department officers canvassed the crowd and found video evidence of her alleged throw.
Gaetz had spoken to a standing-room-only crowd inside the local eatery, where he told the crowd that any federal legislation to change how land ownership works on Pensacola Beach and Santa Rosa Island was dead.
The crowd had been a mix of both supporters and opposition, and when Gaetz exited the restaurant, he was accompanied by a PPD officer working as his “special detail," an arrest report stated.
This special detail officer later informed investigators that he’d watched a “clear plastic cup containing a red liquid fly through the air from a crowd of protesters and strike Congressman Gaetz in the torso," the report stated.
Two witnesses positively identified Kondrat'yev as the person who threw the cup. One witness provided police with a video capturing details of the lob and spill.
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Kondrat'yev attempted to leave the scene immediately but was detained by law enforcement before managing to escape the area, the report stated.
Kondrat'yev’s arrest report noted she was carrying a sign reading, “Gaetz – wipe off the blood from your hands, A+ rating – NRA, save our kids vote Gaetz out in 2020.”
Kondrat'yev was booked into the Escambia County Jail with a $1,000 bond. County records indicate she made her bond and was released later that day.
Kondrat'yev was one of several candidates running against Gaetz for Jeff Miller’s seat in 2016 before she withdrew from the race. She is also one of four plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the city of Pensacola to force the city to remove the Bayview Park cross.
Some outlets, including the Guardian and the BBC speculated that Gaetz is the first American politician to get "milkshaked," a protest tactic popular in England in which milkshakes are thrown at right-wing politicians.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage was doused with a milkshake last month when out campaigning in Newcastle, England, by a man who said he was protesting Farage's "bile and racism." Tommy Robinson, an anti-immigrant populist activist who ran in the recent EU parliamentary elections, was pelted by milkshakes twice in two days last month.
Mike Wood, the Pensacola Police Department's public information officer, confirmed that the drink that hit Gaetz wasn't a milkshake, The Washington Post reported.
“No, it was not a milkshake,” Wood, told the Post. “I can just tell you it was a red liquid, a Hawaiian Punch or something like that.”
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard and N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Paste BN
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