A Berkeley man lived the dream and threw a bottle of water at Gavin Newsom, but now faces charges of assaulting a public official and resisting an officer.
The recent slap in the face to French president Emmanuel Macron is the latest in a proud tradition of citizens making physical but harmless attacks on elected officials, like the shoe thrown at George W. Bush, the 2003 egging of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the pie in Anita Bryant’s face delivered by the queer activists of yesteryear. Add to that list an incident that took place in Oakland Thursday, as the East Bay Times reports that a man threw a bottle of water at Governor Gavin Newsom, and was quickly arrested by Newsom’s security detail with the California Highway patrol.
Newsom joked that people have different ways of saying hello. https://t.co/eiDrrgAFq3
— SFGATE (@SFGate) June 18, 2021
“This morning, the Governor was approached by an aggressive individual,” a CHP representative said in a statement to SFGATE. “Members of the Governor’s security detail removed the Governor from the situation and the individual was arrested by CHP officers.”
That official statement doesn’t say anything about a bottle of water. But according to the East Bay Times, “law enforcement sources said the man allegedly threw a bottle of water at Newsom.”
The alleged Dasani assailant has not been identified, though the Times does have a photo of the suspect being arrested. Reporters did not witness the water bottle being thrown, so we do not have that glorious video, but the Times reports that afterwards Newsom “quipped that different people have different ways of saying hello.”
The suspect was booked at Santa Rita Jail with bail set at $35,000. (We’ll post the GoFundMe if we see one.) He will be arraigned on charges of assaulting a public official and resisting an officer Monday, but until then, he will likely be the most popular inmate at Santa Rita Jail.
Related: SF Comedian Assaulted On Stage During Standup Show In the Mission [SFist]
Top image: OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 16: California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a news conference about the state's efforts on the homelessness crisis on January 16, 2020 in Oakland, California. Newsom was joined by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to announce that Oakland will receive 15 unused FEMA trailers for the city to use as temporary housing and as mobile health and social services clinics for the homeless. Newsom signed on executive order on January 8 to deploy 100 trailers and crisis response teams to areas in need across the state. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
