Updating a story WSJM first told you about earlier this week, the mayor of Bangor says an intense verbal altercation that happened outside the Bangor City Hall on Monday — that was then shared widely on social media — is part of an ongoing campaign of harassment by several area individuals against city officials.
Mayor Lynne Farmer said for the past six months, four individuals have been disrupting city business by harassing city workers and posting threats and negative comments on Facebook. Farmer said things escalated at Monday’s public meeting.
“One of our citizens called me and said, ‘I heard them say, “Don’t start anything until I get outside and get the camera set up.”‘ And then after that happened, then one of the gentlemen aggressively came to talk to our city manager’s wife and was acting in a very aggressive manner. And then the police officer said, “Go outside.” So they went outside. And then the next thing I knew, the city manager was out there and there was a yelling match with each other.”
A video showing the altercation was shared on social media. One of the witnesses, Steve Honeycutt, told WSJM he was wearing a body camera and took video of the incident. He said he contacted the Michigan State Police to investigate an alleged assault. When contacted, an MSP spokesperson indicated the matter was referred to the Van Buren County Sheriff’s office. Van Buren officials then indicated the matter was being handled by the MSP.
Mayor Farmer said no assault occurred and that the city also contacted police, filed a report, and that a ‘no trespassing’ order will be served on the individual who acted aggressively — barring him from entering any city building.
“They’re trying to say that they were unprovoked and they were just chatting when they were walking out. That is far from the truth because they had this episode planned well in advance.” — Mayor Farmer
The mayor said the whole thing is very disturbing to city employees and councilmembers, and she hopes it stops soon. She said if it doesn’t, they’ll have to take other actions.