Man accused of trying to run down Rep. Katherine Harris

Wednesday, October 27, 2004 Posted: 1:46 PM EDT (1746 GMT)

(CNN) -- Police in Sarasota, Florida, arrested a man accused of trying to run down Rep. Katherine Harris and her supporters with a car Tuesday, a police spokesman said.

A silver Cadillac "swerved off the road and drove up the sidewalk" heading "straight towards Ms. Harris," according to the police arrest report.

"Harris stated that she was afraid for her life," according to the police report, "and could not move as the vehicle approached her."

No one was injured in the alleged incident.

It happened as Harris and her supporters were campaigning in Sarasota, her spokeswoman said Wednesday.

A witness to the incident saw part of the vehicle tag before the car left the scene, according to the report. Police matched the tag to a car registered to Barry Seltzer, 46, of Sarasota.

After police tried to contact Seltzer, he came to to the Sarasota Police station where, according to a police report, he admitted trying to "intimidate" a group of Harris supporters.

"I was exercising my political expression," Seltzer told police, according to the report.

He was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is now in Sarasota County Jail, and is to have a court appearance Thursday.

Harris emerged as a controversial figure during her role as Florida Secretary of State during the 2000 presidential election recount.

She used that attention to fuel her campaign for the House of Representatives in 2002. In her bid for re-election, she faces Sarasota lawyer, Jan Schneider, who lost to Harris in the last election..