A Florida woman accused of hitting another motorist in the face with a glass jar of vegan mayonnaise was arrested nearly a month later after the injured woman spotted the same vehicle in a shopping plaza.
The Aug. 20 confrontation happened on Corkscrew Road near Three Oaks Parkway in Lee County. Deputies later met the woman at Coconut Point Hospital, where she was being treated for a cut beneath her eye, according to Gulf Coast News, which reviewed the Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
She told deputies she had been traveling east toward Interstate 75 when a white utility van cut in front of her without signaling. She honked, and the encounter escalated from there.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said 57-year-old Christine Sweet eventually threw a glass container of Vegenaise through the open window, striking the woman in the face.
Right Through the Window
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The van moved slowly toward the left-turn lane while blocking her vehicle, the arrest report states. The two eventually ended up alongside one another with the woman’s driver-side window and the van’s passenger-side window open.
She saw an arm come from the van, then felt a sharp pain near her eye.
The object was a glass container of Vegenaise, a vegan mayonnaise substitute.
After the impact, Sweet yelled, “I hit her in the face, go, go, go,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The van sped away.
Spotted Again
Nearly a month passed before the case moved again.
On Sept. 17, the injured woman recognized the van parked at San Carlos Plaza and called deputies, Gulf Coast News reported from the arrest report.
When deputies arrived, the conversation briefly turned to the object at the center of the case.
“What is Vegenaise?” one deputy asked.
“It’s, um, a vegan version of mayonnaise,” someone replied.
The deputy returned to the allegation: “You just can’t throw mayo at someone.”
Sweet admitted throwing the jar during her interview with deputies, according to the arrest report cited by Gulf Coast News.
Two Felony Charges
She was booked into the Lee County jail at 5:28 a.m. Sept. 18.
Lee County booking records list two charges: aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and an offense involving throwing a missile or other hard substance into an occupied vehicle.
Bond was set at $10,000 on each charge, for $20,000 total. She was released at 2:26 p.m. Sept. 19.
Florida law classifies aggravated battery involving the use of a deadly weapon as a second-degree felony.
A second charge falls under Florida Statute 790.19, which covers throwing certain missiles, stones, or other hard substances capable of causing death or great bodily harm at or into an occupied vehicle, among other structures.
In this case, the allegation centers on the glass container rather than mayonnaise itself being treated as a weapon.
The case is scheduled for Circuit Court on Oct. 19 at 8:30 a.m.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.