The City of Sparks hired a consultant last year to investigate what happened when Sparks firefighter Timothy Egan dropped Maureen Hvegholm on her face in December of 2022. Hvegholm, then 84, was treated at a local hospital after the attack. She was feeding stray cats in an alley near where she lives adjacent to a Sparks Fire Department station.

The report, by Christopher Darcy with the Fairfax Consulting Group of Las Vegas, found Egan instigated the altercation, lied about it and violated department policies and state laws. (Read it here.) Egan claimed he was attacked by Hvegholm.

“Egan was responsible for creating the physical altercation between himself and Hvegholm,” Darcy wrote. “Egan initiated contact by approaching Hvegholm, attempting to take and throw away items she believed were hers. Egan used what officers described as disproportional force by throwing Hvegholm to the ground, causing her to land face first and injuring her forehead.”

Egan also lied to Sparks Police investigating the incident, Darcy determined. “His written description does not match what occurred in the video.” False information provided by Egan to Sparks Police—that she allegedly threw a can of cat food at Egan—led to police issuing Hvegholm a citation. That was rescinded shortly after the incident.

“Egan maintained false assertions and continued to provide untruthful information about the dynamics of the encounter by affirming his previous statements,” Darcy reported. 

“I’m appalled at the results and want to know what it takes to get fired from the City of Sparks. What in the hell is wrong with these people?”

Egan also threw cat food on a Sparks Fire Department employee’s vehicle, purportedly to make it seem like Hvegholm was responsible, according to a statement made by a fire chief. He was found in violation of the city’s workplace violence policy for intentionally “hitting an employee’s personally owned vehicle parked on SFD property.”

Sparks officials said Egan is still employed.

“This is a personnel matter that we are not at liberty to discuss,” city spokesperson Julie Duewel said. 

Hvegholm’s family members called the situation collusion among the City of Sparks, the Sparks City Attorney and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office.

“Timothy Egan tried to set up my mother-in-law for throwing cat food on a coworker’s car and was suspended, but he slams my 84-year-old mother-in-law head first into the street, and there are no consequences?” Kelly Hvegholm told This Is Reno. “I’m appalled at the results and want to know what it takes to get fired from the City of Sparks. What in the hell is wrong with these people?

“How many more people have been assaulted and wrongfully accused? I have lost all belief in our local government,” she added.

Darcy did not recommend criminal charges against Egan be filed, but violations of Nevada law were “listed as considerations for internal employee violations as they pertain to the City of Sparks and SFD.”

Sparks sued for denying public records

Sparks paid Darcy as much as $50,000 for the investigation, which the city then tried to keep secret. Hvegholm’s family had to sue the City of Sparks under the Nevada Public Records Act (NPRA) to get the document. 

“I can see why the City of Sparks made it so difficult for the citizens to gain access to the report that we paid for,” Kelly Hvegholm said.

The Las Vegas law firm Marquis Aurbach was hired by the City of Sparks “to assist with various personnel matters, including but not limited to this one,” Deuwel said.

That law firm also fought to prevent the Darcy report from becoming public.

“The Report created by Darcy, at the direction of counsel, is protected from disclosure by the work-product privilege,” wrote attorney Nick Crosby of Marquis Aurbach. “The City was conducting a Human Resources investigation which, depending on the outcome of the investigation and any subsequent decision by the City with respect to the same, the likelihood of litigation for any negative or adverse decision borne from the process would or, at the very least, could be litigated by Egan.”

The report was turned over to Hvegholm last week, however. Court records show the agreement to release the document occurred on Feb. 12. Sparks officials did not respond to a question about how a private law firm can declare a city-funded investigation confidential.

Two lawsuits ongoing

Hvegholm also sued Egan and the City of Sparks over the incident, claiming damages. Sparks hired another law firm to defend itself in that case. Alex Velto, now a partner in a new law firm with Reno City Council member Devon Reese, was defending the City of Sparks in the case until last week. A court filing shows the Hutchison & Steffen law firm, where Velto used to work, is still defending Sparks.

Velto last year argued the same thing Darcy said was an untrue claim by Egan.

“Plaintiff attacked … Egan from behind with what he believes to be a full metal container of cat food,” Velto wrote. “When [he] turned around after the first assault, Plaintiff threw water and dried cat food in his face, temporarily blinding him, while swinging an unknown blunt object that … Egan could barely perceive. He then pushed her away to stop the attack, and she fell.”

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office also investigated the incident and determined neither party should be charged with any crimes. WCSO Sergeant Josh Jenkins, however, initially indicated felony charges would be filed against Egan, according to the Darcy report.

His final report said otherwise. 

“Hvegholm and Egan were acting in a physically antagonistic manner towards the other,” Jenkins wrote. He did not note the discrepancies in Egan’s statements that Darcy, a former undersheriff with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, found. Egan’s false statements were also noted by Sparks Police.

“The assault upon Maureen is so trivialized that Sgt. Josh Jenkins calls it the equivalent of a street fight between two ‘evenly equipped’ individuals,” the Justice For Maureen website claims.

WCSO spokesperson Mary-Sarah Kinner was provided portions of the Darcy report and a link to the Justice For Maureen website. She did not provide a comment on either.

“The report is sloppy and hastily pulled together as though a 12-year-old wrote it for a school assignment—it’s as though the Sheriff’s Department was in a hurry to get it out,” the Justice For Maureen website noted after Hvegholm ultimately got a copy of that investigation. “It is an embarrassing example of investigative work.”

A court hearing in the ongoing case against Egan and Sparks is scheduled for April 26. 

It is not clear what actions, if any, will occur in the public records lawsuit now that the Darcy investigation has been released. If a judge determines Sparks violated the Nevada Public Records Act, the city may have to pay attorney fees and costs to Hvegholm for having to take the records matter to court.

Hvegholm’s attorney, Luke Busby, also represents This Is Reno in public records cases. He would not comment on or provide information for this article.