Woman, 58, gropes fellow cruise passenger's buttocks, tells her husband to 'go back to the country you came from'
PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA: A 58-year-old woman was arrested on Friday (19 July) after she allegedly groped her fellow passenger's wife in front of her six-year-old daughter before telling her husband to "go back to the country you came from". The incident reportedly happened when the accused, Lisa Anne Matteson, was traveling on the Sponearama cruise boat on the Anclote River.
According to her arrest records, Matteson was drunk at the time when she grabbed the buttocks of the fellow female traveler at least twice on the cruise.
She reportedly made some lewd remarks like, "Oh, it's curved and nice. I would do you." And when the woman's husband confronted her, she told him, "You should go back to the country you came from."
The woman's harsh words resemble President Donald Trump's tweet from July 14 where he targeted four minority congresswomen - Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) - by telling them to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came."
Although the Matteson has denied groping the woman on the cruise, she has admitted using the racist slur against the man, police said.
The latest incident comes on the backdrop of Trump's alleged racial tweet that caused a nationwide uproar.
Democrat lawmakers have openly condemned the president's social media post in the strongest terms while most of the Republicans have maintained a more neutral stance. Things got more complex Trump's supporters chanted "send her back" at the North Carolina rally when the POTUS brought up the topic of Omar last Wednesday.
Trump initially distanced himself from his supporters' chants, but on Friday (19 July) he reversed his stance and said: "You know what I’m unhappy with? I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can hate our country,” referring to Omar, Vox reported.
"I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman can say anti-Semitic things. I’m unhappy with the fact that a congresswoman — in this case, a different congresswoman — can call our country, and our people, garbage. That’s what I’m unhappy with. Those people in North Carolina, that stadium was packed. It was a record crowd and I could’ve filled it 10 times, as you know. Those are incredible people, those are incredible patriots. But I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes and says, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare.’ She’s going to be the president’s nightmare. She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things she has said are a disgrace to our country,” he was quoted as saying.