Police arrested a Colorado man for allegedly throwing a glass of water on Rep. Steve King (R-IA) while he was eating lunch at an Iowa restaurant.
The Iowa Republican was dining with a group of people at Mineral City Mill and Grill in Fort Dodge, Iowa, around 12:30 p.m. when Blake Gibbins, 26, of Lafayette, Colorado, allegedly went up to King and tossed a glass of water on him, the Fort Dodge Police Department said in a statement obtained by CBS News.
The water hit King and several of the other people he was dining with, police said.
Witnesses told the police that King was targeted because he served in Congress.
KCCI reported that Gibbins was visiting relatives in Iowa and did not know ahead of time that King would be dining there. Authorities charged Gibbins with misdemeanor counts of assault and disorderly conduct.
King has come under fire recently for quoting a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official’s statement about Hurricane Katrina victims being too reliant on the federal government during a town hall in Charter Oak, Iowa, this week.
“I saw that from the air and from the ground and went back and did what we could to help those folks down there,” King said, recalling a visit to New Orleans shortly after the 2005 disaster.
“Here’s what FEMA tells me: We go to a place like New Orleans and everybody’s looking around saying, ‘Who’s gonna help me, who’s gonna help me?’ When FEMA responds to problems in Iowa, they’re just always gratified when they come and see how Iowans take care of each other,” he added.