Pensacola environment activist and former ECUA candidate charged with felony battery
*Editor's note: This story was updated to correctly identify the charge against Horning as aggravated battery
Gloria Horning, a well-known Pensacola environmental activist and former candidate for the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority Board, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after police said she used her truck to strike a man cleaning an alleyway.
Horning was arrested on Monday after a laborer working for Hartman Enterprises alleged that Horning struck the worker with her car when he refused to move out of her way. The worker was not struck hard enough to be knocked down and declined to be transported to a hospital, according to a Pensacola Police Department arrest report.
The worker was cleaning the entrance to an alleyway called Fort Street that is directly next to Horning's home on DeVilliers Street on Monday afternoon.
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The name of the alleyway and location of the incident was redacted in the police report, but Horning has publicly complained to city officials for years about flooding on DeVilliers Street and the alleyway next to her home.
The alleyway was largely unused until it recently become the main accessway for several new homes being built on Government Street.
The police report said Horning wanted to park her car, a Dodge Ram truck, where the worker was cleaning and told the worker to move.
When the worker said he could not move because he was working, Horning said, "I know how to make you move," according to the police report.
Horning drove her truck onto the driveway and struck the worker with the front right bumper of her truck in the worker's right leg and right side, the police report said. The force of the impact pushed the worker forward but did not strike hard enough to cause the worker to fall over.
Police, who arrived at the scene at 5:12 p.m., did not observe any obvious signs of injury. An ambulance was called to the scene, but the worker elected not to be taken to the hospital.
Another worker told police that Horning has been causing problems with the home construction in the area because she does not agree with it happening but said nothing physical had ever happened until the incident Monday.
Horning declined to comment to the News Journal about the incident on Wednesday.
Horning's been an active environmental activist, advocating for residents in the Wedgewood area during the Rolling Hills landfill scandal in 2015, and has long advocated at Pensacola City Hall for better environmental and flood regulations.
Horning has pointed to the lack of adequate flood controls in her own street in the Tanyard and criticized the city's regulations over development in the area. Her own home was completely flooded during Hurricane Sally.
In 2018, Horning ran as a Democrat against Republican ECUA District 2 board member Lois Benson and lost by 25 points.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Glorida Horning, Pensacola environment activist, charged with battery
