Protestor arrested twice in one week for assaulting police officer will remain jailed

A 25-year-old former Ph.D. student at Cornell University will remain at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center until at least June 19 after being arrested twice in one week for assaulting a police officer.

Thomas Whitehead was arrested on April 30 for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a protest on the Rutgers University campus.  He was accused of hitting a police officer with a flagpole fashioned from a Swiffer mop handle attached to a Palestinian Flag outside the Hillel House, a meeting place for Jewish students; a group had been protesting a meeting with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Three Rutgers students were also arrested.

This was the second time in less than a week that Whitehead, a Cranford resident, was charged with attacking a police officer: he was involved in an April 23 incident in Jersey City that was referred to the Hudson County prosecutor on an indictable offense.

“I do believe that detention is appropriate to assure community safety and to assure that he will not obstruct the process,” said Superior Court Judge Colleen M. Flynn.  “Peaceful protest is protected. Violent protest is not.”

Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Vincent Vitale said Whitehead “kicked and punched the sergeant who attempted to place him under arrest, and the defendant refused to comply.”  He said Whitehead “had to be taken to the ground and had to be given numerous commands to stop resisting.”

Vitale said Whitehead was unlikely to obey the terms of a bail release, saying he’s not even in compliance with the conditions of the release in Hudson County.

“This is not about in any way restricting First Amendment protections or the right to assemble. What this is about is on one, two, three, now, a fourth occurrence, this defendant is injecting himself into situations with law enforcement that don’t involve him and putting otherwise lawfully assembled persons at risk for physical injury and worse,” Vitale said.  “His first arrest. His second and his third arrests have not deterred him in the least.”

On April 18, Whitehead was charged with obstructing a government function in Newark and resisting arrest, both disorderly persons offenses.  He has a court date of May 6.  In June 2024, Cranford police officers charged Whitehead with obstructing a government function and of loud noise; he paid a $540 fine after a plea agreement with the municipal prosecutor.  Vitale referred to these arrests and showed video of Whitehead’s arrest in Newark.

Jacqueline Boulos, Whitehead’s public defender, argued that he was “an individual who’s acting based on a perceived injustice or an opportunity to ensure that police are acting in accordance with their duties and obligations of the law.”

“He’s either recording or observing.  He does not ever raise his hands or his voice. He never touches an officer.  He never does any of those things in every single one of those instances,” said Boulos.  “Any force or use of force or violence is instigated by police officers. And in what I would characterize in a very aggressive manner.”

Boulos claims the prosecutor “introduced several different incidents from different counties to show an individual who is not in any way aggressive towards the police, but has repeatedly stood up when he thought that there was a perceived injustice.”

The salutatorian of the Cranford High School Class of 2017, Whitehead, received a degree in statistics and mathematics with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was pursuing a doctoral degree at Cornell, where he worked as a teaching assistant.  A spokesperson for Cornell said that Whitehead left the program last August.

“About a year ago, he began to become very concerned with the needs of the community at large, with the planet, with the homeless population, the war in Gaza, with the deportations — these are things that are concerning to him, which should be concerning to all of us, but they are concerning to him,” Boulos said.  “It became sort of a life goal of his to ensure that when justice is seen and justice is seen by all, and it’s not hidden in the shadows, it’s not done where nobody can see it. It’s something that everybody can be aware of, and that people should stand up for others.”

Flynn indicated concern over Whitehead’s repeated attempts to “insert himself in situations where he may feel justified in trying to protect a situation.”

“When I watched the video from the one event on April 18th at the Newark train station, he’s not just videotaping. He’s not just ignoring police orders. He is pushing his way into the area where the police are handling the person who is subject to being arrested, so he’s doing more than just standing there peacefully videotaping,” said Flynn. “He’s inserting himself physically into these situations, and he’s been given lawful orders before it escalates into a situation of violence where he ends up getting hurt as well. And other people are getting hurt as well, including the police officer who was struck in the head with the pole.”

Whitehead only addressed the court once.

“Do I get to speak at all?” he asked.

“Not at this juncture. You have a right to remain silent, and anything you say can be used against you,” Flynn told him.  “It’s being recorded. Save your conversations for your attorney and filter your comments through your attorney just to protect yourself.”