Pemberton Township meeting ends in near-physical altercation with mayor
Mayor Matthew Bianchini leapt from his chair and approached an attendee as a few people held him back and council members called for him to stop.
A seemingly routine Pemberton Township council meeting Wednesday night came to a dramatic close after Mayor Matthew Bianchini charged at someone in the audience.
The incident, captured on video by the township’s meeting livestream, came almost exactly an hour into the monthly gathering that was attended by dozens of people.
As Kenneth Gerber, a recently fired township official, and his attorney were at the podium during public comment, the video captures Bianchini, sitting behind the dais, turn his focus from the lectern to the audience.
There’s some back-and-forth between Bianchini and the audience that was not clearly picked up on the video, before one attendee can be seen raising his middle finger toward the mayor.
Bianchini then leapt from his chair and approached the attendee as Gerber and a few other people held him back and council members called for him to stop. He was physically removed from the room as he yelled “I’m going to get you” at the attendee, who in turn called for the mayor to be arrested.
“He just threatened me,” the attendee yelled. “I want the police here to arrest him for that threat.”
“I’m charging him with assault,” he said.
Pemberton Township police confirmed that they are aware of the incident but could not comment further.
No official charges have been filed against Bianchini as of Thursday afternoon, according to online court records.
Bianchini did not respond Thursday to requests for comment. In a Facebook comment on a post by the Pine Barrens Tribune, Bianchini’s wife Nicole, who was sitting in the audience, explained her husband’s actions during the meeting.
“Let’s rewind and start at the beginning. An employee who was terminated was up at the podium with his attorney disputing why he was fired. It was a lengthy presentation and some of us in the back were getting confused as to why it was taking so long and what was going on. Another resident ... began making comments to the Mayor while the employee and his attorney were talking. (Which is not allowed during any meeting while someone is speaking, regardless of who they are),” Bianchini wrote.
She continued: “My daughter asked him to please stop talking so that this could continue. A female stood up and began telling my daughter to ‘shut up’. My daughter told her this doesn’t involve you to which she responded ‘want to take this outside’. [The attendee who held up his finger], who had been making comments all night that were mumbled, while he was looking at myself and daughter then proceeded to ‘flail his hand’ while flipping my husband off. This was observed by my husband and you can see what happened from there.”
“I am not condoning my husbands [sic] actions but I will say as a parent and a spouse, I get his protection mode,” she wrote.
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