One day, following an altercation at a Newberry City Commission candidate forum, simple battery charges against Seat 1 candidate Brandy Oldman remain in limbo pending state review.

The League of Women Voters of Alachua County hosted the panel Sunday afternoon, giving candidates running for Seats 1, 2 and 3 an opportunity to meet community members and share their campaigns ahead of the April 14 election.

According to Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) spokesperson Chris Simms, a deputy responded to a call around 3:30 p.m. after the forum for an altercation between Oldman, who is challenging incumbent Rick Coleman, and resident Jessica Carey.

Simms said ACSO doesn’t have all the details about what happened because the deputy did not complete their report before leaving the incident. But he cited a three-minute video (embedded below) filmed by Carey and posted to the Newberry: The Citizen’s Page on Facebook for the charges.

The video shows frustrations escalating between Oldman and Carey as Carey called Oldman a liar for saying during the forum that she’d be respectful to everybody but felt she hadn’t been.

“I can’t drive right now; I’m angry,” Carey said to Oldman.

Oldman said she wouldn’t let Carey call her a liar for something she didn’t lie about. She flipped her middle finger at the camera and smacked the phone filming her out of Carey’s hand, which garnered a simple battery charge against Oldman.

“I’m gonna catch a f****** charge today, put that on Facebook,” Oldman said.

“You just assaulted me; I’m pressing charges,” Carey responded. “Don’t trust her. She’s a convict. She’s a criminal.”

The deputy handcuffed Oldman and put her in an ACSO vehicle, but released her on scene because the charge came as a sworn complaint.

As of Monday, Simm’s said Oldman is the only person being charged and that a charging affidavit is being sent to the state attorney’s office to determine if the charges will be pressed. Simple battery is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail or 12 months of probation and a $1,000 fine.

Oldman told Mainstreet on Monday that the incident wasn’t a bright and shiny moment for her and said she apologized for losing any trust. Carey did not respond to the comment before publication.

She’s also confused about the charges, which she said have evolved since Sunday.

At the altercation, Oldman said she was told she and Carey would both get sworn complaints; ACSO against Carey and Carey against Oldman. Oldman said she didn’t file one against Carey because she didn’t want a citizen to go to jail.

Oldman said she tried to obtain a copy of the ACSO report, but that she couldn’t because it hadn’t been written and the deputy didn’t take any of her or her witnesses’ information.

Oldman also said the true origins of the altercation with Carey had been left out of the story.

According to Oldman, the incident started after the forum finished when candidates and attendees were signing each other’s name cards. She and Carey started talking, and the talking turned physical, Oldman told Mainstreet.

Carey pulled Oldman’s face into hers, nose to nose, Oldman said, and accused her of lying about being respectful of every citizen. Oldman said Carey told her she had a copy of Oldman’s divorce papers, which Oldman said confused her because she said she’s never been divorced.

Oldman said she backed away from Carey, who walked outside. She followed Carey and eventually grabbed and tossed her phone, which Oldman said was wrong to do.

Carey’s video, which starts after the two were outside, does not indicate that she touched Oldman.

“It’s very embarrassing, and I would like to apologize to everybody if I broke their trust with that incident. But I do hope in the end that the truth will reveal itself what actually happened,” she said. “I’m not one to ever do anything like that unless I’m attacked. I’m a normal person. I’m not perfect, I’m not infallible. And with a situation like that, I don’t think there is a specific way to handle it. I could have handled it better, but at the end of the day, I didn’t.”

Oldman said the altercation is part of a series of incidents attempting to make her look bad.

Although she gets that campaigns are supposed to get ugly with banter, she said she’s been repeatedly verbally harassed, and now physically, because she’s not part of the “good old boy” network.

Other incidents, she said, include a cease and desist order from the city of Newberry in 2024 regarding Newberry Community School, and what Oldman called false, AI-generated arguments from Coleman about a campaign-related text message from Oldman’s daughter.

Oldman said the forum altercation was both unfortunate and embarrassing for the community and herself, distracting from real issues like taxes, development and utility bills.

But she said the political hostility surrounding the issues is part of the reason she decided to run for commission and will continue to campaign to ensure community members can speak up, ask questions, and be heard without fear of retaliation, harassment, or intimidation.

“At the end of the day, I just really want what’s best for Newberry, and I’m willing to let my voice be heard, because a lot of people don’t want to speak up because this is the environment here. It becomes toxic. It really does,” Oldman said. “And I’m happy to take on the toxicity so others don’t have to.”

Editor’s note: This story was underwritten by a grant from the Rural Reporting Initiative at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.