A New Jersey man who was caught on camera harassing, threatening and yelling racial slurs at his neighbors had dozens of Black people PULL UP top his home, to protest against him, MTO News has learned.
Now police are standing guard outside the racists home, protecting him from the angry mob who gathered outside his home.
On Friday, shortly before 8 p.m., a neighbor called police and accused Edward Cagney Mathews, 45, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, of continuously harassing her.
After a police investigation, Edward was charged with harassment and bias intimidation. His charges were placed on a summons by a municipal court judge to be heard at a future court appearance. He was then released from police custody on Friday.
But this wasn’t the first time that Edward was caught racially harassing his neighbors, and was let free by the police. Over the weekend, videos circulated on Facebook showing a man, who police identified as Mathews, using racial slurs while arguing and threatening a man and a woman.
So Black people took action, yesterday, MTO News confirmed. A large crowd of protesters gathered outside Mathews’ Mount Laurel home Monday afternoon while police stood guard.
A woman who posted one of the videos accused Mathews of harassing her for more than a year. In the video Edward brags about the White police officers being “his people.” Edward told the woman that the police would not protect her.
In the second video, a man, who police identified as Mathews, stands outside a Black man’s home and repeatedly calls him a “monkey” and the “N word.”
Look:
After the protests brought national attention, NJ police are finally taking action. The officers have taken therapist man into custody to face additional charges after community members protested outside his home.
“The Mount Laurel Police Department does not tolerate hate or bias intimidation in any form. This type of behavior is totally unacceptable,” a police spokesperson wrote. “We can assure our residents that incidents like this are thoroughly investigated and that those who commit such offenses will be held accountable for their actions.”
During a press conference Monday evening, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that additional charges of bias intimidation and assault were filed against Mathews based on the video.
“I want to especially commend the victim who showed incredible restraint with somebody spewing awful, vile things in his face. Assaulting him,” Coffina said. “That’s the subject of the additional charge today. That was on video.”
“People are out here because they’re angry,” Marcus Sibley of the Southern Burlington County NAACP said. “They felt they could say the most horrible thing you could say to a Black person and there would be no repercussions.”