PATERSON — Hours after Paterson was rocked by its fourth homicide in three days, the City Council meeting was suspended Tuesday night after a police officer intervened — and was shoved — during a nearly physical confrontation between two council members.
A video of the chaotic end of the meeting showed Councilman Michael Jackson become angry, saying Councilman Luis Velez was talking while he was speaking.
“Will you shut him up before I go over and shut him up myself?” Jackson said to council President Alex Mendez about Velez.
Jackson then got up from one side of the council dais, walked to Velez on the other side and leaned over him, the video showed. For a few seconds, the two men’s faces were inches apart, with Jackson looking down at Velez and Velez looking back up at him.
As Jackson resumed standing upright, a police officer providing security at City Hall stepped between the two elected officials and placed his right hand on Jackson’s arm, the video showed. The councilman then put his left hand on the officer’s collarbone and shoved the officer backward, the video showed.
After people in the audience shouted and screamed, there was no further confrontation shown on the video, which was recorded and posted on Facebook by Sebastian Mejia, who plans to run against Velez for the 5th Ward council seat next May. Mejia routinely records the council workshop meetings, something he has done after some council members' attempts to get the sessions broadcast by the city on YouTube have failed.
Jackson and Velez frequently express animosity toward each other at council meetings.
During a meeting at the end of April, Jackson told Velez he was “going to knock your teeth out, going to send you to the hospital,” according to a police report filed by Velez, who filed still-pending charges accusing Jackson of terroristic threats and harassment.
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In that incident, a police officer also separated the two men. Jackson said in April that he threatened Velez in that instance because Velez had been disrespectful to his mother during the meeting.
Police also intervened in a council meeting incident involving Jackson when he and the finance director, Javier Silva, almost came to blows in March. In that case, Silva giggled in reaction to someone in the audience admonishing him for looking at his phone while people spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting about the death of Najee Seabrooks.
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On Tuesday night, after suspending the meeting and sending everyone out of the council chamber, Mendez said the next council session would be conducted virtually.
“I cannot allow this type of behavior in the chamber anymore,” Mendez said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “It was ugly.”
The council on Tuesday night had finished its workshop session discussions and was getting ready to convene a special meeting about various legal cases when the trouble started.
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Jackson and Velez gave conflicting versions of the situation.
Jackson said he was insulted by Velez’s “heckling” and “making light of the situation” while he talked about a family member killed in one of the weekend shootings. Jackson also blamed Mendez for not controlling the meeting properly and allowing Velez to speak while he was speaking.
“Obviously, I got upset,” Jackson said of his decision to walk to Velez, adding, “I didn’t put my hands on him.”
Velez said that as Jackson stood over him, his council colleague combatant told him to “stand up.” Velez said he didn’t stand because he would have bumped into Jackson in doing so. Velez said he stayed seated to avert a physical confrontation.
Jackson said the police officer — whom members of the department identified as Joel Torres — “initiated” the physical contact between himself and the officer by placing his hand on him when he intervened.
“I don’t want anybody putting their hands on me,” Jackson said. “I know the police officer, and I didn’t think there was any malice.”
Jackson went on to say he had not committed any crime, and therefore he said the officer had no reason to touch him.
Jackson has been the primary and most consistent critic of Mayor Andre Sayegh among Paterson’s nine council members. In fact, Jackson was belittling Sayegh’s response to the city's crime problem when the confrontation between him and Velez started.
Velez, on the other hand, has been one of Sayegh’s council allies for the past 15 months.
Sayegh weighed in on Tuesday’s incident, blaming Jackson for what the mayor called “the toxic environment” at council meetings.
“Is there no end to Mike Jackson’s disgraceful behavior?” Sayegh said. “The long arm of the law needs to put him in handcuffs."
