A New Jersey man was body slammed and arrested at a packed township meeting this week after speaking out against a proposed AI data center — part of a growing national backlash against Trump's $500 billion push to build AI infrastructure across the country.
The confrontation unfolded Thursday at an Andover Township Committee meeting in Sussex County, where hundreds of residents turned out to oppose plans for a data center by developer National Land Developers LLC. The project is part of a wave of similar developments accelerating under Trump's Stargate initiative, a joint venture with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle that the president has called "the largest AI infrastructure project in history."
Among them was Shane Connolly, of Butler, who challenged the committee over what he called a lack of transparency between the township and the developer.
"Somebody's lying, whether it's you or it's them, and we deserve to know who," Connolly told the committee, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd, according to Patch. "If you listened to your constituents, the only thing you'd be trying to pass is an outright ban on data centers."
After concluding his remarks, which ended with profanity directed at the committee, police ordered Connolly to leave. Video shows him being body slammed and physically dragged from the room by two officers after he resisted at the door. He was subsequently arrested.
The Sussex Visibility Brigade, a local advocacy group, identified one of the officers as the son of Andover Mayor Thomas D. Walsh, a claim that has stoked even more outrage over the incident. Walsh and Andover police have not responded to requests for comment, according to Patch.
"What happened in Andover is completely unacceptable," said Chris Sotiro, deputy director of the Climate Revolution Action Network, who testified at the meeting.
"Andover Township 'leadership' continues to demonstrate perfect examples of what NOT to do as an elected official," the Sussex Visibility Brigade posted. "No matter what a person SAYS--that is their first amendment right and so long as they are not threatening you (which he wasn't), there was no reason to THROW him to the ground."
The incident reflects rising tensions at town halls across the country, where communities are pushing back against data center construction they say is being rushed through without meaningful public input. Analysts have warned that the backlash, which spans both political parties, could swell into a significant political liability for Trump heading into the midterms.
