Screenshot from video sent to the Reporter July 7.
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
Chief Dino Sgambellone on Monday afternoon said he was aware of an incident on Seminole Street in Los Alamos July 4, which allegedly involved a County Department of Public Utilities employee that setting off illegal fireworks withing County limits. He said LAPD was waiting for the report filed by Matthew Voss.
In a document received by the Los Alamos Reporter last week and sent to Los Alamos County Human Resources, Mr. Voss complained of an incident he said occurred during the evening of July 4 in front of the home of Mark Martinez. Voss said LAPD Cpl. Jason Osborn was handling the incident and sent the email string to the Reporter to show that he had indeed filed a report with LAPD.
“On that night, Mr. Martinez was involved in a deeply disturbing and dangerous incident involving fireworks, i.e. Roman Candles. Whether through negligence or deliberate action, he fired fireworks directly into crowds of people gathered next door. Several individuals and properties were impacted,” Mr. Voss said.
Voss alleges that fireworks struck parked cars belonging to of the groups gathered next door; that grazed and burned a 4-year-old girl.
“Another firework entered the backyard of one of the neighbors and set woodchips around a chicken coop to catch fire,” Voss said. “When approached and confronted with the harm he had caused, Mr. Martinez did not take responsibility for his actions. Instead, he became combative and attempted to physically fight every person who tried to talk to him, including myself, after I tried to show him that a young girl had been injured and that my daughter was put into extreme distress after a firework shot passed her neck, because of his actions.”
Voss alleges that Martinez was “intoxicated and clearly unfit to interact with the public in any capacity”.
“When the neighbor’s sons (18, 19, and 20 years old), attempted to calmly speak with
(Martinez) he became combative with them and tried to fight them yelling he works for the County and how he is untouchable. The only reason violence was avoided is because multiple people, including a disabled neighbor, had to physically restrain him,” Voss said. “As a County employee, Mr. Martinez represents the County of Los Alamos both on and off duty. His behavior that night was not only reckless and irresponsible, but it was also violent and threatening the safety of our/your community.”
Voss said he has video evidence showing Martinez being restrained “while attempting to attack multiple individuals along with shooting the Roman Candles at both the neighbor’s property and individuals down the street from him. His complaint said that “this kind of conduct is absolutely unacceptable, and if this is the standard you tolerate from your employees, it raises serious concern about your commitment to public safety and accountability.” Voss urged the County to immediately investigate the alleged incident and review the available evidence.
The Reporter asked LAPD PIO Cmdr. Chris Ross what penalties there are for violating the fireworks ordinance and he responded by sending the following section of the Los Alamos County Code.
Sec. 1-8. – General penalty; continuing violations; corrections fee.
General penalty and continuing violations. Whenever in this Code or any rule or regulation promulgated under the provisions of this Code any act is prohibited or declared to be unlawful or an offense or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense, where no specific penalty is provided therefor, any person who shall be convicted of the violation of any such provision of this Code shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or by imprisonment not exceeding 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Every day of any violation of this Code constitutes a separate offense.
Mr. Voss was not the only one by far who complained about the use of fireworks that have been deemed illegal in Los Alamos County by LAFD Fire Marshal Colorado Cordova. LAPD officers responded to some 24 fireworks-related calls for service on July 4-5. All of the calls in this log had an officer dispatched, however, there were no incident reports created or citations issued for firework disturbances on those dates. There seems to be some disagreement about who should be enforcing the fireworks regulations put out by the fire marshal.
Meanwhile, some of the folks who called in to LAPD Dispatch, also reached out to the Reporter. The biggest complaints were that the larger fireworks that have been declared illegal by the Fire Marshal are too loud and too dangerous for the small neighborhoods in the community as some grown-ups, young children and pets are fearful of the noise etc.
In response to a question from the Los Alamos Reporter, Cmdr. Ross noted that he believed it was more important for patrol officers on duty to watch for drunk drivers than to respond to fireworks calls. Ross said the concert at Ashley Pond Park, though attended by an estimated 10,400 people, had no incidents.