Police called after Yaede, Henderson square off at Italian Festival
WEST WINDSOR >> Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede got into a heated verbal confrontation with defeated GOP challenger David Henderson on Saturday afternoon at the Mercer County Italian American Festival that led to police getting called out.
The mayor was with a male companion outside of the skating rink entrance sometime around 4 p.m. at the Mercer County Park when she and her hated rival happened to cross paths, Henderson said.
Henderson said he was there visiting his wife, Sherry Sinatra-Henderson, who works for the Mercer County Board of Elections.
She was staffing a booth at the three-day festival, which kicked off Friday, inside the staking rink, Henderson said.
As the gadfly approached the building, the mayor’s male companion saw him from about 100 feet away and pointed him out to the mayor, Henderson said.
The mayor turned around, Henderson said, and shouted at him to stay away from her, causing a scene with about 30 people around. Yaede has accused Henderson of harassing and stalking her on several occasions before.
Henderson often snaps photos or takes videos of the mayor and members of her administration in public places. But he insisted Saturday’s encounter was purely by chance.
“The mayor turned around, ‘You’re harassing me. You’re stalking me. And at that point, I asked her why she tell lies about me,” Henderson said, adding he pulled out his phone to record the interaction.
Instead, he only snapped a photo of the mayor, which he provided to The Trentonian. He said the mayor’s companion also pulled out a phone at the mayor’s urging and appeared to start recording.
Henderson claimed he didn’t get within 20 feet of the mayor when she shouted at him to leave her alone because “you put your hands on women.” According to Henderson, the mayor encouraged someone to call the police.
Henderson was arrested on domestic violence-related charges in 2001, brought by an ex-wife. The charges were later dismissed and expunged, which later was the center of a criminal investigation that led to charges against the mayor and her campaign manager.
West Windsor Police confirmed an officer responded out to the park to take a report.
“I just know there was an incident down at the park of some sort of harassment that the police responded to,” Sgt. Anthony Magistro told The Trentonian on Saturday evening. “That’s pretty much the extent of what I know. The day shift handled that during the day shift. That’s all the information I have, and on top of that, you would have to contact a public information officer to release any other type of information regarding that case.”
Magistro did not know whether Yaede or her male companion called the police to complain about Henderson or whether it was another individual who called the cops.
Yaede, when reached for her side of the story, told The Trentonian she would issue a statement.
“Today, I realized, without question, what numerous residents mean when they relay their concerns about my safety when it comes to Mr. Henderson,” Yaede said in her written statement. “This is truly an unstable individual who has harassed and stalked myself, family and township employees. Union representatives sent a letter to the administration asking that Mr. Henderson be banned from the building due to his behavior.”
“This is not the first time Mr. Henderson, knowing I arrived at an event, appeared to harass me,” the mayor added. “To see his behavior escalate at an out-of-town event and involve Italian American staffers needing to assist me was disgraceful and made me fear for my safety necessitating the police to respond after John Scarpati Jr. asked Henderson to stop. Additionally, my repeated requests for him to keep his distance and cease his behavior went ignored. He ceases only when he realized he was being videotaped.”
Scarpati Jr. did not wish to comment on this story.
Another person who witnessed the confrontation between Henderson and Yaede said the gadfly was “totally out of line getting up in her face.”
“She pretty much said, ‘I know you put your hands on women. Stay away from me,’” said the witness who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I didn’t even know what was going on at first. He’s a real piece of work, that guy. He was totally out of line. There’s no doubt about it. He’s a big dude getting in her face.”
Yaede’s male companion “recorded the whole thing,” according to the witness, who said Henderson “didn’t care” that the confrontation was being recorded.
West Windsor Patrol officer Nathan Cuomo responded out after someone reported the alleged harassment, according to a business card given to Henderson.
The gadfly snapped a photo of the cop’s card and sent it to the newspaper. A report or case number appeared on the back of Cuomo’s card.
The patrol officer took statements, presumably from Yaede and her male companion, along with Henderson, he said.
The township gadfly, who lost to Yaede in the bitter Republican primary in June, told the cop about his contentious history with the mayor.
Henderson said he informed the cop the mayor “wasn’t happy” with him because he was the victim and main witness against her in a since-dismissed disorderly persons case for publishing his expunged records on the Hamilton Spotlight blog.
Yaede and campaign manager Dan Scharfenberger were charged with knowingly releasing the
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