7/7/21 White Man Harassing Black Neighbors Loses His Liberty After Daring them to "Come See Him"

A 45-year-old New Jersey man is in jail for repeatedly harassing his Black neighbors on their doorsteps with vile language and gestures.

Edward Cagney Mathews, who is White, was filmed for several minutes as he stood on and near a Black neighbor, spat on him, and used multiple vulgarities of a racial nature. The neighbor, outraged, yelled back from his doorstep, but said "Don't touch me" repeatedly and put his hands in the air when Mathews stepped up close to him several times, chest-to-chest. According to the New York Times, the Black man was a friend of the homeowner, a Black man who heads up the Homeowners' Association.

Mathews also shouted "Get these f*cking monkey n*****s outta here," then gave his full home address while facing the camera. "Come f*cking see me. Bring whoever." At the least, the video served as incontrovertible evidence of Mathews's harassment, and it reportedly went viral.

Police came to deal with the situation when the wife called 911. Mathews was charged with harassment and bias intimidation that day, Friday, but he was only taken to jail on Monday, when a crowd of about 100 took Mathews up on his offer to drop by at the condominium complex where Mathews lives.

By then, the police had seen the video from Friday. Also available that morning was a video by a former upstairs neighbor of Mathews -- a Black woman who said he had harassed her relentlessly, kicked down her door, spray-painted slurs on her car, and complained repeatedly about the noise her young son made. “No one did anything at all,” she said.

On Monday, the crowd members acted like protesters and included at least one person carrying a bullhorn. Police stood around the building to protect it and Mathews, but then arrested not the crowd members, but Mathews. A charge was added for disorderly behavior. He is expected to remain in jail till a hearing on Wednesday.

Mt. Laurel is a half hour due east of Philadelphia. ______________

Did this guy have it coming, acting like that to his neighbors? How did they possibly put up with his behavior for so long? What do you think about the police protecting Mathews from the crowd but then arresting Mathews instead of crowd members? Does it seem that a tide may have turned?  

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/edward-cagney-mathews-arrest-racial-slurs_n_60e4551be4b068186f5403f0