Woman arrested after throwing liquid on California Senate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California police have arrested a woman who threw a feminine hygiene device containing “what appeared to be blood” onto the floor of the state Senate, splashing onto lawmakers and forcing them to finish their work in a committee room on the final day of the legislative session.

Senators had just finished taking a vote about 5:14 p.m. Friday when a woman tossed the substance onto the floor of the Senate from the public gallery, saying: “That’s for the dead babies.”

The California Highway Patrol identified the woman as 43-year-old Rebecca Dalelio. She faces several charges, including assault, vandalism and disrupting “the orderly conduct of official business” at the state Capitol.

Police say Dalelio walked out of the gallery and did not resist when she was arrested. The news release did not give a motive, referring to the woman as a “demonstrator.” But the action came as hundreds of people protested at the Capitol against a recently signed state law seeking to crack down on fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations.

Several lawmakers sought to link the woman to the protesters, including Sen. Richard Pan, who last month was shoved in the back by a protester as he was walking near the Capitol.

“This incident was incited by the violent rhetoric perpetuated by leaders of the antivaxx movement,” Pan said in a news release. “As their rhetoric escalates, their incidents of violence does as well. This is an attack on the democratic process and it must be met with strong condemnation by everyone.”

The drama unfolded on the final day of the Legislative session, with lawmakers still having several key bills to debate before adjourning for the year.