A township board meeting in Thornton Township erupted into chaos Tuesday night when Mayor and Supervisor Tiffany Henyard became involved in a physical altercation following a heated exchange between her boyfriend and a local activist.
The confrontation began during the public comment session when activist Jedidiah Brown, speaking at the microphone, directed harsh criticism at Henyard, calling her a “half-a–ed mayor” and accusing her of “sleeping her way to the top” while praising newly appointed trustee Stephanie Wiedeman.
“You gone, bitch,” Brown said, according to CBS News.
Seated in the back of the meeting room, Henyard’s boyfriend, Kamal Woods, confronted Brown after the comments.
The two exchanged punches, and the altercation quickly escalated as other allies of Henyard joined in.
Video footage captured Henyard leaving her seat at the front of the room and moving directly into the fight.
It remains unclear whether she was attempting to break up the altercation or actively participating in it.
“I have never seen a politician jump in and fight like that—it was scary and horrible. It is an embarrassment,” eyewitness Meghan Dudek told NBC Chicago.
Security personnel inside the building attempted to separate the individuals involved, but the brawl escalated with participants throwing punches, kicking each other, and even jumping on tables.
At one point, Henyard was thrown to the ground and lost a shoe amid the commotion.
“It should have never come to blows, and Tiffany should have never got involved,” another eyewitness, Gerald Williams, told NBC Chicago.
Following the altercation, Brown took to Facebook, claiming the fight was a “preplanned set up” and alleging that Henyard and her allies had previously insulted him.
“Let’s be clear here, I was fighting them all,” Brown wrote.
“Kamal grabbed my jacket in beginning which is why my head was down but I powered through and was over him. I still popped every single one of them including Tiffany who hit me first before being picked up like a toddler and having to fight security in the back room by elevator.”
The fight broke out during an already tense meeting where Henyard’s boyfriend, Kamal Woods, was a key focus of discussion.
Woods, along with William Moore, oversees the township’s at-risk youth program.
The board voted to place both men on paid administrative leave while launching an independent investigation and forensic audit into the handling of grant money and township funds for the youth program and outreach department, NBC Chicago reported.
Henyard denounced the move as “political retaliation” and threatened legal action in response.
It is unclear if anyone was injured in the altercation.
Brown was removed from the premises by police, but no arrests were made, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
Following the incident, police ordered everyone out of the building, and the meeting was never formally adjourned.
Henyard’s attorney is reportedly preparing a statement, according to the outlet.
The brawl occurred just days after Henyard was found in contempt of court for allegedly delaying liquor license approvals for months.
St. Patrick’s, a three-story restaurant, filed a lawsuit in August accusing Henyard of refusing to sign liquor licenses that had already been approved by the village board.
Under the threat of contempt, she ultimately signed two of the three licenses last week, but only after showing up 30 minutes late to her court appearance.
Henyard, who refers to herself as the “super mayor,” recently lost the Democratic nomination for Thornton Township supervisor.
She has vowed to fight back, claiming “voter suppression” was involved in her defeat.
The South Holland Police Department and Thornton Township’s office have not yet commented on the incident.
