MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) — A white man who is seen in video footage pushing a Black neighbor with his chest and using racist slurs to address the neighbor and others on Friday has been arrested.
Edward C. Mathews, 45, was arrested on Monday evening after protesters gathered outside of his Mount Laurel home for multiple hours.
“Now, what I did was not acceptable. It’s completely wrong,” Mathews is seen saying in another video filmed by a protester on Monday before his arrest.
In the footage showing the confrontation on Friday, Mathews gives his address several times before finally walking away saying, “Come (expletive) see me.”
In a statement posted online Monday morning, the Mount Laurel police department said Mathews was charged with harassment and biased intimidation but was initially issued a summons and was not arrested.
A Black woman in the neighborhood called police on Friday saying Mathews was harassing her, approaching her front door and shouting racial slurs, according to prosecutors. She had previously told police she suspected Mathews of “criminal mischief” involving her car.
A doorbell camera captures Mathews bringing his dogs to her front yard, repeating a racial slur and thrusting his hips in a vulgar way after police responded and talked to him, prosecutors said.
Police then received a second call from a nearby address and found Mathews using racial slurs to address four people, which appears to be the interaction caught on video that drew widespread attention online.
That confrontation happened after Mathews knocked on a neighbor’s door demanding to see her husband, who is Black, and attempted to enter her home, prosecutors said. The woman, who is white, called police and another neighbor came over to find Mathews in the walkway.
A message was left with the public defender’s office seeking comment on behalf of Mathews.
On Monday evening, prosecutors said at a press conference that they were bringing new charges against Mathews based on additional video footage, but did not say what the new charges were. An email to the Burlington County prosecutor seeking additional information was not immediately returned.
Police officers stood at the door of Mathews home while protesters gathered outside on Monday. When police moved to arrest Mathews around 7:30 p.m., footage posted by a reporter shows protesters throwing objects towards officers and Mathews as they walk to a police car and then at the car as it drove away.
Police say they are investigating other incidents involving Mathews. It was not immediately clear if Mathews has an attorney to represent him. A working phone number for Mathews could not immediately be found.
Mount Laurel is located 19 miles east of Philadelphia.
