EXCLUSIVE: Pemberton Police Bodycam Shows Mayor Bianchini Offering to Leave Council Meeting if Others Involved Were Removed
Minutes after the Oct. 21, 2026 confrontation between Pemberton Township Mayor Matthew Bianchini and resident Michael Sawka, the mayor said in a room behind the council dais that everyone involved should be removed from the meeting, and that he would go too, according to police body-worn camera footage obtained by The Digital Free Press through an OPRA request.
"I think if they're removed, I should go then too," the mayor says on the footage, recorded by two officers' cameras. Seconds later he adds that the others should be "removed first, then I'll leave."
The footage, released on a disc with the department's case report and dispatch (CAD) log, does not show the confrontation itself. Both officers arrive during the recess that followed. Across about 16 minutes of video from two officers, no one is arrested, handcuffed or cited, and police use no force.
What the bodycam shows
Bodycam footage obtained by The Digital Free Press through OPRA shows the officers entering the council chamber at about 7:03 p.m., according to the cameras' time stamps, while the meeting is in recess. They go through a side door behind the dais into a conference room where the mayor is standing with members of his family and others.
In that room, a woman with the mayor's group tells officers that Sawka had gestured toward the mayor's daughter. "So in his defense as a father he did jump up because Sawka has been pushing buttons," she says. "And yes, it's petty and childish. However, everybody has a breaking point, and he just met his."
The mayor then discusses how to get the meeting going again. "There's going to be comments and repercussions about it all night at the podium. We're just going to have to deal with that," he says. "But as far as getting through this meeting, any involved party in that altercation is going to have to be removed."
A man in the room asks him, "Do you think it should be you? Do you think you should go?" Bianchini answers, "I think if they're removed, I should go then too." The man replies, "Matt, that's a good move. That's a good stand to take." The mayor's remark about those "involved" came moments after Sawka was named in the room.
Someone in the room then remarks, "Our cameras are on, so we've got to be mindful," and asks, "Can you address it in the public setting, or do you want us to address it?" The answer is to do it in public, with officers present "when we make the announcement of who's going to be asked to leave."
At about 7:09 p.m. the presiding officer called the meeting back to order and asked "all the people that were involved in this little altercation to please kindly get up and leave this meeting." The mayor's group left through the door behind the dais.
Sawka at first refused. "I'm not going anywhere. I didn't do anything. I was sitting in my seat the whole time," he says on the footage. The presiding officer answers that it is a request and that "everyone else is getting up," adding that the mayor would leave once the others did. After several more requests, Sawka left the chamber at about 7:13 p.m.
In the lobby, Patrolman Joseph Peters (unit 18158) tells Sawka that he does not know what happened and that officers had been called over from another call at the station. He tells Sawka that if he wants to sign complaints, he can go to the court. Sawka responds, "It's all on video. I didn't get out of my seat until he came running over."
About five minutes later, an officer tells the remaining attendees that police have "a domestic violence victim inside our station" and asks them to leave so officers can "get back over there." When Sawka asks whether to file with the court or the police station, the officer says, "It would be directly with the court. It's a private citizen complaint."
The police report
Police opened a disorderly conduct case after the meeting and listed each man as both a suspect and a victim, according to the department's case report, also obtained through OPRA.
The two-page case report, number 2026-00033438, lists two offenses: improper behavior/disorderly conduct under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2a(2), and harassment under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4a. Sawka and Bianchini each appear twice in the subjects section, once as a suspect and once as a victim. The report's arrest section is blank.
What the officer wrote
The narrative was written by Patrolman Tyler Reynolds-Vezos, badge 18119, and created at 3:18 p.m. on Oct. 22, the day after the meeting. It lists Joshua Danka, badge 18118, as supervisor and notes "BWC Activated," meaning the officer's body-worn camera was on. The department released video from his camera and from Patrolman Peters's camera.
Reynolds-Vezos wrote that at about 7 p.m. he received a call from Lt. Lucas to respond to the council meeting for a disturbance, and that "the parties involved in the disturbance were already separated" when he arrived.
"During my investigation, I learned that Mayor Bianchini had been involved in a verbal dispute with a citizen attending the meeting, Michael Sawka," the report states. "During this, Mayor Bianchini left his seat and approached Michael Sawka. No physical altercation occurred between the subjects based on what I was told by witnesses."
The officer also wrote that he "was told that Sawka had been involved in a verbal dispute with Bianchini's family members seated behind him."
According to the report, the council "decided to ask those involved to leave in order to continue the meeting in a peaceful manner." Those asked to leave included Bianchini, his family members, Sawka and one other attendee named in the report. "The subjects were escorted outside by police for safety purposes," the narrative says, ending: "Nothing further to report."
The report does not quote either man, does not describe any words the mayor used and does not say whether any complaint was signed that night.
The dispatch log, entered after the fact
The CAD log, released Nov. 9, records the call as a priority 1 "DISTURBANCE" at 500 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, the municipal building that also houses the police department. It shows the call was created at 7:17 p.m., with four officers assigned and logged as arrived that same minute: Peters, listed as primary, along with Reynolds-Vezos, Alexander Hamilton (18139) and Kyle Wardell (18159). All four units cleared at 7:28 p.m. The disposition is recorded with the code "COK." The log's narrative sections are empty, and it lists no caller.
The bodycam footage shows officers were already at the meeting about 14 minutes before that entry. At about 7:16 p.m., Peters is heard on the radio asking dispatch to "create an incident" for a disturbance at the council meeting, listing himself and three other units. The case report gives the call time as about 7 p.m.
Responses
Sawka told The Digital Free Press by phone on Nov. 10 that he first waved toward the mayor's family members, who he said were shouting at him, that the mayor then yelled at him, and that he then made an obscene gesture at the mayor. He said the mayor then charged at him. Sawka disputed the account given by members of the mayor's group, saying it does not match what happened, and said the video supports his account.
Mayor Bianchini and Pemberton Township Police Chief Glass did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
Background
Sawka filed a complaint in municipal court on Oct. 22 seeking assault and terroristic threats charges against Bianchini, according to reports by WPVI (6abc) and NBC10 Philadelphia. The township's own recording of the meeting, posted to its YouTube channel on Oct. 22, shows a man at the dais rushing toward the audience and being held back by others. Bianchini later told WPVI that what he said "was wrong." Fox News reported Nov. 5 that Bianchini, who was appointed mayor after his predecessor resigned, conceded the Nov. 3 mayoral election to Democrat Belinda Fontanez and will serve through the end of the year.
The records released so far do not show the status of Sawka's municipal court complaint.
Sources: Pemberton Township Police Department body-worn camera video, units 18158 and 18119 (four files, Oct. 21, 2026); Pemberton Township Police Department Case Report 2026-00033438 (printed Nov. 4, 2026) and CAD Incident Details for incident 2026-00033438 (printed Nov. 9, 2026), all obtained by The Digital Free Press through an OPRA request filed Oct. 27, 2026; Pemberton Township Council meeting video, Oct. 21, 2026 (Part 1), official township YouTube channel; WPVI-TV (6abc); NBC10 Philadelphia; Fox News, Nov. 5, 2026; phone interview with Michael Sawka, Nov. 10, 2026.
Cover photo: Pemberton Township municipal building, 500 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, by Mr. Matté via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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