Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is coming to the defense of a woman charged with murder in a road rage incident, demanding that Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell drop the charges and recognize that she was acting in self-defense.
48-year-old Tina Allgeo was indicted by a grand jury in February of this year, though even police reports show that she was not the initial aggressor in the incident and had reason to believe that her life was in danger when she drew her gun and shot her assailant.
Allgeo encountered Tsvetkov as they drove along East Colonial Drive near Primrose Avenue, east of downtown Orlando, as the man followed closely behind her. According to reports by the Orlando Police Department, the two quarreled after Tsvetkov struck Allego’s car and then struck her during an attempt to escape after she got out of her car to survey the damage to her rear bumper.
It further escalated when Allgeo side-swiped his car — accidentally, she told police in a written statement — as she followed him to get a closer look at his license plate. Video surveillance then showed Tsvetkov exit his car, open her driver’s side door and punch her repeatedly while trying to drag her out her vehicle before she shot him in the face.
Allgeo was arrested and later released on bond.
So, according to the Orlando police Tarlov physically assaulted her twice, and Allgeo only fired her gun after she had been repeatedly punched and was being dragged from her vehicle. Why was she even arrested to begin with?
Back in March, Worrell claimed that Allgeo “provoked the entire incident,” adding that “After Mr. Tsvetkov left their initial encounter, she pursued him, struck his vehicle with hers, which prohibits Ms. Allgeo from using self-defense as a claim if she’s in the commission.”
That seems like a real stretch to me, especially since Allgeo has claimed from the get-go that she unintentionally hit Tsvetkov’s vehicle after he drove away.
In a video posted on X, Attorney General Uthmeier slammed Worrell for “actions [that] likely constitute a breach of your ethical obligations. And they may also constitute misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty and incompetence.”
Monique Worrell may not like Florida’s Stand Your Ground laws, but those laws reflect our God-given right to self-defense.
In the case of Tina Allgeo, State Attorney Worrell should reconsider her prosecution. pic.twitter.com/TBLh6UprRP
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) September 8, 2025
Allgeo will get a hearing next month where she and her attorney can argue that she was acting in self-defense in accordance with Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, but Worrell has the discretion and authority to drop the charges before then.
Two hours after Uthmeier’s remarks were posted online, Worrell issued a statement of her own saying she used her discretion as a prosecutor to bring the case to a grand jury, and that the decision as to whether “Stand Your Ground” applies to Allgeo is up to a judge.
“Prosecutors do not serve as extensions of the Governor or the Attorney General; we serve the people of our circuit in accordance with Florida law,” Worrell states. “The Attorney General’s attempts to intimidate or override independent prosecutorial judgment erode public trust in the impartial administration of justice.”
I’d argue that a prosecutor charging a woman with murder when she shot her attacker erodes public trust even more.
Based on the evidence that’s come to light so far, I don’t see how Worrell can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Allgeo intentionally struck Tsvetkov’s vehicle and provoked him into his violent response. It seems pretty reasonable to me that someone who was the victim of a hit and run would try to follow the person who struck them so they could try to get their license plate information and provide it to police. It also seems pretty unreasonable to think that the woman who’d already been struck by Tsvetkov once would try to intentionally provoke him into assaulting her again just so she could shoot him.
Unfortunately, Worrell doesn’t agree, and I don’t see her accepting Uthmeier’s demand to drop the murder charges. Allgeo’s best chance of relief will come at her Stand Your Ground hearing in October, where a judge will have the opportunity to set things right.
Editor’s Note: Officials like Uthmeier are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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