Something strange went down at the last East Brunswick Town Council meeting — a man stood up and went on a bizarre, hostile rant that many described as anti-Jewish and completely off the rails. Most in the room were left confused and disturbed.
That man has now been identified as Thomas Whitehead of Cranford, and he’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons — again.
Whitehead was just arrested at Rutgers University during a protest outside a Hillel event where Congressman Josh Gottheimer was speaking. According to authorities, four individuals were arrested after refusing police orders to move and then trying to breach a police line.
? 4 people arrested at Rutgers
? Whitehead charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, riot, resisting arrest
? This is his second arrest in just days
The other three arrested were:
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Lexi Tassone, 21, of Cresskill
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Hanah Hassan, 23, of Budd Lake
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Jasmine Rodriguez, 24, of Atlantic City
They’ve all been charged with rioting, and some also face charges for resisting arrest. But Thomas Whitehead stands out — not just for being the only man in the group, but because this is his second arrest in less than a week.
Just a few days earlier, Whitehead disrupted the Jersey City Council meeting, taking the mic to condemn Israel and threaten council members over their support of an Israeli flag-raising. His rant included:
“We’ll just make your lives absolutely 100% the most miserable as possible, by many means necessary.”
He ended his time chanting:
“Five six seven eight, Israel’s a terrorist state.”
If the name sounded familiar to anyone in East Brunswick, it should — this is the same man who delivered an aggressive, erratic speech at our own Town Council meeting just days prior. At the time, it felt out of place. In hindsight, it may have been a warning sign.
Whitehead is currently being held at Middlesex County Jail, pending a detention hearing.
Eyes on EB will continue to connect the dots when local stories spill into the headlines.
