A profanity laced tirade delivered by Commissioner Mark Hosty is the subject of a May 8 police report filed by a woman who described the elected official’s behavior as “absolutely ridiculous.”
Amanda O’Connor, 23, said she was on her way home from work when she stopped to speak with a friend of hers, Gloria Backman, at the corner of Circle and Warren. While they were chatting, she said, the commissioner’s wife, Jennifer Hosty, came out of her nearby home to speak with Backman. Jennifer Hosty then photographed the two women and called her husband, according to O’Connor.
Mark Hosty said when he got the call from his wife, he was tending bar at Healy’s Westside on the corner of Circle and Madison, and walked the short distance to meet her.
According to O’Connor, Mark Hosty approached the duo and quickly began shouting at Backman as she walked away from the conversation. O’Connor said she asked the commissioner to stop yelling at her friend, at which time Mark Hosty directed a slew of curse words and obscene gestures at her.
“He was in my face,” O’Connor said. “He started telling me to go F myself.”
Mark Hosty, however, said his outburst was provoked by O’Connor’s foul language and accused the two women of stalking his family. O’Connor and Backman were standing in front of his home, pointing at his property and making snide remarks to one another, he said his wife later told him. The photo taken by his wife just before he arrived proves that O’Connor and Backman were taunting her, he said.
“It’s really crazy,” the commissioner said. “No other commissioner that I know of has to deal with these stalking issues. I’m trying to contain myself, but I’m afraid they’re going to escalate their stalking.”
O’Connor denied taking any interest in the commissioner’s home.
In late 2008, Backman and her husband photographed the commissioner’s home as a renovation project there was underway. The photos were posted online and documented that the necessary permits for the project had not been received from the municipality. The Backmans live down the street from the commissioner.
A trespassing charge filed by Mark Hosty in that case was eventually dropped. Tension between the neighbors has been a constant.
Neither the commissioner’s nor his wife’s account of the May 8 confrontation were included in the police department’s report. O’Connor said she spoke with an officer for the sole purpose of documenting the incident. No charges were filed and no arrests or citations were made.
