Middletown council member says man knew Facebook exchange was ‘a joke’

Two days after a Middletown resident said he felt “threatened” after reading a Facebook post between council member Ami Vitori and a friend, she said the man knew it was “a joke.”

During citizen comments Tuesday night at the Middletown City Council meeting, Levi Hensley, 22, said about four months ago he had a conversation on Facebook with Vitori that “turned south.”

Hensley said he read a Facebook exchange between Vitori and a friend that he believes was about him, and theymentioned a baseball bat.

“There was no joke about it,” Hensley said Thursday.

There was a heated exchange Tuesday between Hensley and Vitori and City Manager Jim Palenick stopped Hensley from reading more of the Facebook post, saying: “I would suggest that we should not engage in individual attacks.”

Mayor Nicole Condrey asked everyone to maintain “respectful communications.”

On Thursday, Vitori said several months ago Hensley wrote some negative and false accusations about her and her downtown restaurant. She said several of her Facebook friends came to her defense, and Vitori wrote to her friend that she “will grab a bat and follow you anywhere.”

In another post, the friend wrote back: “I have a truck now, so bring more than 1 bat!”

On Thursday, Vitori said she’s not “a violent person.”

When Vitori, in her first term on council, saw Hensley at the council meeting and listened to what he was saying, she called his actions “a political stunt.”

Hensley said his comments “had nothing to do with politics. Someone on council should not speak like that.”

When asked what lesson might have been learned, Vitori said she was “reminded” to never engage with someone on social media.

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