The mayor of Baltimore got an unwelcome surprise while mingling on Saturday with festival-goers: she was splashed by a thrown cup of water.
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was greeting people at the Mondawmin Festival, an event with food, entertainment and representatives from Baltimore’s non-profit organizations, when a woman ran up and threw what police said was water on the mayor, NBC affiliate WBAL reported.
Police said Lacheisa Pailin-Sheffer, 37, of Baltimore, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. A spokesman for the Rawlings-Blake told the station that the mayor was fine after the incident.
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“I didn’t know what it was that she threw at me. I hope it was water,” Rawlings-Blake told the Baltimore Sun. “It was more shocking than anything else.”
The bizarre incident didn’t stop the mayor from enjoying the festival. She later tweeted photos of herself with Baltimore residents and community partners, calling it a “fantastic day.”
Rawlings-Blake came under fire after the high-profile death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody in April. After Gray’s funeral, with Baltimore riots spiraling out of control, she drew criticism forsaying that she wanted to give “those who wished to destroy space to do that.” Rawlings-Blake later clarified that the remark was taken out of context, and that she wasn’t instructing police to allow violence or property destruction. This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
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