Española Assistant Fire Chief John Wickersham has been placed on administrative leave for six days after an internal city memo mentioning his name was released to the Rio Grande SUN.
The memo written by Española Police Sgt. Adrian Martinez and addressed to Chief Mizel Garcia, outlines the arrest by Officer Andrew O’Hara of former city finance director April Moya’s relative on Feb. 22 for reckless driving and aggravated driving under the influence.
According to the memo, Wickersham texted O’Hara shortly after the arrest to tell him about the man’s relationship with Moya. He then asked the officer to call him.
“(Wickersham) then told Officer O’Hara to ‘watch out’ because City Manager Eric J. Lujan was saying the arrest was not in the city,” the memo states.
By text message, Wickersham wrote that he received the notice of contemplated disciplinary action from Fire Chief Johnny Martinez, that he has been placed on administrative leave with pay and that the decision is directly related to the events of outlined in the memo written by Adrian Martinez.
“I have hired an attorney and there is nothing that warrants any kind of reprimand,” Wickersham said in a telephone interview.
He posted news of his being placed on administrative leave on his Facebook page, where he received many comments expressing support for him.
Mayor John Ramon Vigil sent a letter on May 14 to Lujan directing him to cease communications about any of the issues, questions, incidents, allegations, or statements related to the incident because he is mentioned in the memo.
HR complaint
This is not the only personnel issue Wickersham has involving the Española Police Department.
According to emails obtained by the Rio Grande SUN, he contacted Human Resources Director Sally Baxter on May 14 regarding a complaint he submitted earlier this year about an alleged threat from Garcia to punch him in the face.
“This outburst occurred during a heated episode in which (Mizel) was loudly speaking about me and threatening to resign with both Mayor and City Manager in the room, and myself and two others down the hall,” Wickersham wrote in the email.
To date, Wickersham wrote, he is unaware of any action that has taken place regarding his complaint and asked the matter be reviewed with urgency.
In her response, Baxter wrote that she will follow up with him when she has additional information.
In a telephone interview, Garcia said he has spoken to Human Resources about the situation but could not make any further comment regarding the personnel issue.