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Footage of the arrests of Layla Graham and Amanda Kearny shared by Teaneck Councilman Keith Kaplan show the women screaming at police trying to remove them from the municipal building just after 9:20 p.m.
** WARNING: The below video contains explicit language **
Click here for the full video shared by Keith Kaplan in Teaneck Today.
The women were identified in a news release issued by Teaneck Police Chief Andrew McGurr, who said Graham and another man had been disrupting the meeting repeatedly, prior to police arrival.
While the man eventually complied with requests to leave, Graham did not, McGurr said. Photos shared by Kaplan show Graham holding a sign saying, "Every 10 minutes another child in Gaza dies."
Mayor Michael Pagan had been asking Graham to silence an alarm blaring from one of her electronic devices before he called police at approximately 9:20 p.m., the chief said.
Officers told Graham several times to leave the room but she refused, and stayed at the entrance of the Municipal Building, partially blocking it and ignoring multiple requests from officers to step aside, McGurr said.
Amanda Kearney, who accompanied Graham to the meeting and was with her in the hallway, physically interfered with the officers trying to remove Graham, the chief said. Kearney was instructed not to re-enter the building and not to return to the meeting. However, it wasn’t long before she returned, police said.
She was placed under arrest. During her arrest, Graham re-entered the building and was also arrested. A search of Graham turned up a stun gun, police said. While stun guns are now legal in New Jersey, the law bans them from schools and public buildings.
Kearney was charged with defiant trespass and obstruction while Graham was charged with disrupting a public meeting, defiant trespass, possession of a stun gun, and resisting arrest. They were each processed, served with their summonses and released, pending initial appearance in Bergen Central Judicial Processing Court.
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