‘I just snapped’: Video shows Pemberton mayor charging at resident during council meeting

PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP, NJ (WPVI) — A city council meeting Wednesday evening descended into chaos when Pemberton Township Mayor Matthew Bianchini charged at a resident over what was described as long-simmering tensions.

Video recorded by Pine Barrens Tribune reporter Ryan Elmore shows Bianchini running toward resident Michael Sawka during the meeting, then yelling “I’ll get you.”

The mayor was overpowered by other people present before being expelled from the room.

“I just broke down,” Bianchini said. “I hate to say it this way, but it takes time.”

“I’m just sitting there,” Sawka remembers. “I never got up. I sat there the whole time. I was quiet the whole time.”

As people escorted Bianchini out of the room, he could be heard yelling at Sawka: “I’ll get you. I’ll fucking get you.”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” Bianchini said in an interview Thursday afternoon with Action News. “It was wrong. It was in the heat of the moment. I won’t have anyone.”

Sawka said he wants the mayor to resign and face charges.

“I would like to see Mr Bianchini resign as soon as possible and sign an agreement that he will never get involved in politics again,” he said.

The incident occurred while a former municipal employee, recently fired, was pleading his case to the council.

According to Bianchini and family members, the mayor’s wife and daughter were sitting in the back of the room when Sawka and another resident made rude comments to them. They said they told the two residents to stop.

Video of the meeting on the municipality’s YouTube page shows Sawka waving his hand at them and then making an obscene gesture toward the mayor. That’s when Bianchini got up from his seat and charged at Sawka.

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“Was it wrong? Absolutely. Was it justified? Absolutely. And I would do it again if I had to,” Bianchini said. “Don’t attack my family. I think any good husband, any good father, would have done exactly what I did.”

Sawka denied making the comments toward the mayor’s family.

“His family behind us started saying stuff. I turned around and started waving my hands, like kind of – why don’t you all shut up? I didn’t even say a word, I was just waving my hand,” he said.

Bianchini said Sawka has been harassing him and his family online and in person since he was appointed earlier this year to fill a vacant seat following the former mayor’s resignation.

Sawka rejected that characterization, saying his actions were intended to highlight what he considers questionable government spending. He also claimed that the harassment goes both ways.

“My biggest thing, all I’ve ever tried to do, is show that we’re wasting money,” Sawka said.

“His family – his daughter-in-law, his son-in-law, his daughter – all attack me online, and they come after me with personal attacks, without ever mentioning anything about the things I point out,” he added.

Bianchini said Sawka had been targeting township leaders for years.

“Mr. Sawka has been a thorn in the side of this town for several years. I am not the first mayor that he has been attacked,” said Bianchini. “This gentleman’s life revolves around me. He spends endless hours, day after day, posting things about me, negative messages about me, lies about me, and it needs to stop.”

Sawka filed a complaint in municipal court Thursday on charges of assault and terroristic threats against Bianchini.

Police have not said whether they will pursue these charges.

The conflict occurs a few weeks before the mayoral election. Bianchini is running to keep the job; otherwise, he will complete his predecessor’s term until the end of the year.

“I only have the best interests of this town at heart,” Bianchini said. “Even the gentleman that I had the altercation with last night, if he called me and needed something, I would be there in a heartbeat. I just want to do better things for this town. I want to make this town better. That’s my ultimate goal.”