Cops Called To Party: Governor Susana Martinez Apologizes For 911 Call, “I Want To Know Who They Are” [Audio]
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez issued a formal apology on Friday for her conduct early last Sunday morning at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa in Santa Fe, where police were called to investigate a disturbance that was said to include loud partying and bottles being thrown from the balcony, reported to the front desk at the hotel, who then called police, according to Yahoo News.
Audio of a call to 911 that Susana Martinez reportedly made to the Santa Fe Police department, speaking first with a receptionist and then a supervisor was widely shared in the press and on social media, as reported by the Inquisitr.
The Republican New Mexico governor stated that she believes in people “accepting responsibility” and said “I sincerely apologize.”
“I want to apologize for the conduct of my staff the night of our holiday party,” Susana Martinez was quoted Friday evening. “There was apparently a party in a hotel room earlier in the night that was disruptive. Someone was also throwing snowballs from a balcony. None of that should have happened and I was not aware of the extent of the behavior, until recently. And that behavior is not acceptable.”
“I should not have gotten involved in trying to resolve the situation, nor should I have spoken to the dispatcher on the phone. I was wrong to speak with them like that, and I apologize.”
In the audio of the call to police, Governor Martinez can be heard speaking in a somewhat haughty tone to the 911 operator, demanding to know why police had been dispatched, without even identifying herself or where she was calling from, and then repeatedly asking who made the noise complaint about her room.
At first, she is told by the 911 operator that they aren’t allowed to provide the information. Then the governor is told that the complaints were made to the management with the hotel, and that the front desk called the police. Susana Martinez seems genuinely surprised that the police supervisor didn’t have the room number and names of the hotel guests who complained to the front desk.
Reportedly, Patrick Gallagher, the interim Santa Fe Police Department chief, was in attendance at the party when the other police officers, including one commander, arrived at the scene. Gallagher stated that he didn’t learn of the incident until he returned to work on Monday morning.
Despite reports of bottles being thrown from the balcony, no broken glass was found in the area underneath Susana Martinez’s room, supporting her assertion that if anything was thrown, it was likely snowballs, which, as she stated, still probably aren’t the best things to throw from hotel balconies, if at all.
Earlier in the evening, Governor Martinez had hosted her annual staff holiday party, which more than 200 people attended. After the party, staff members and Martinez straightened-out the hall where the party was held and then moved to her room to eat pizza and drink pop. Confusion was thought to have arisen because the unruly, snowball-throwing troublemakers had attended the same room that the governor later retired with her entourage to, which was said to include her physically disabled sister.
Susana Martinez is the 31st person to serve as governor of New Mexico. She is the state’s first female governor and the first Latin American governor in the United States. Susana Martinez also serves for the Republican Governors Association as chairman.
[AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File]
