NJ Man Bodyslammed, Dragged From Public Meeting By Cops In Video

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ — Police body slammed and dragged a man out of a municipal meeting this week following a heated exchange about data centers in Sussex County.

On Thursday, an Andover Township Committee meeting was held to discuss ordinances that would lead to a data center. Hundreds of residents turned up to speak out against the data center plans.

Among them was Shane Connolly, a Butler man who spends time living with his girlfriend in Andover. He addressed the council with major concerns over not just the data center, but also the level of transparency from both the township and the data center developer, National Land Developers LLC.

“Somebody's lying, whether it’s you or it’s them, and we deserve to know who,” Connolly told the committee. “If you listened to your constituents, the only thing you’d be trying to pass is an outright ban on data centers.”

Connolly finished his comments, which were followed by a thunderous applause from the hundreds of residents attending the meeting behind him.

At some point, however, after what the Sussex Visibility Brigade described as the use of “coarse language directed at the Mayor/Township committee,” Connolly can be seen on video being bodyslammed and dragged out of the meeting by two police officers.

See video below (Editor’s note — video contains adult language and imagery that some readers may find upsetting):

The Sussex Visibility Brigade identified one of the officers involved as Andover Mayor Thomas D. Walsh’s son.

It's not clear at this time if Connolly was arrested or criminally charged.

Patch has reached out to both the Andover Police Department and Mayor Walsh for comment on the incident, and has not heard back at this time.

Click here to watch the full May 7 committee meeting.

Backlash

The incident has been met with criticism from several advocacy organizations, including the Sussex Visibility Brigade and the Climate Revolution Action Network.

"Andover Township 'leadership' continues to demonstrate perfect examples of what NOT to do as an elected official," the Sussex Visibility Brigade posted. "No matter what a person SAYS--that is their first amendment right and so long as they are not threatening you (which he wasn't), there was no reason to THROW him to the ground."

"What happened in Andover is completely unacceptable. There's supposed to be a relationship between what residents want for their communities and the decisions made by their elected representatives," said CRAN Deputy Director Chris Sotiro, who testified at the meeting. "No issue in America represents a break from this dynamic more than data centers. We just saw hundreds of community voices outraged by an environmentally destructive, economic black hole of a redevelopment project in Andover, and instead of acknowledging the concerns of their neighbors, local officials responded with force and disdain."