Douglas Martin also accused of threatening deputy fire chief.
Douglas MartinSyracuse, NY - A Syracuse firefighter accused of making a threat to commit violence at the fire department credit union office last week also made what was perceived as a death threat against the deputy fire chief, according to court papers.
Douglas Martin, 47, of 706 S. Beech St., was charged Saturday with making a terrorist threat, a felony punishable by up to seven years in state prison.
Court papers indicate the charge is based on an incident Friday morning at the credit union office on Wilkinson Street and a verbal confrontation Martin had Thursday with Deputy Fire Chief Charles Duffy at a downtown intersection.
Martin is accused of intimidating and alarming employees of the credit union about 11 a.m. Friday when he made a reference to a disgruntled black worker who killed six co-workers and then himself in a shooting in Connecticut last week.
Martin says his comments at the credit union were misinterpreted. But the court papers indicate he asked the credit union employee if authorities at the fire department wanted him to do the same thing as that worker in Connecticut.
“Is that what they want,” Martin was quoted as saying.
The court papers linked that incident to another incident the previous day after paychecks were issued reflecting Martin getting only partial pay because of a work-related suspension.
Duffy was in his vehicle, stopped at a red light at Almond and Harrison streets about noon Thursday, when Martin pulled up in a vehicle alongside the deputy fire chief.
“Thank you, I just got your note. . .3 days. Your name will be in the papers very soon,” Duffy quoted Martin as saying, according to the court papers.
Duffy told police he was alarmed because he believed Martin may have been indicating the deputy chief’s name would be ending up in the newspaper’s obituaries.
The court papers claim the “totality of the defendant’s recent actions and statements” created a reasonable expectation or fear of imminent violence. The documents charge Martin’s actions have been designed to influence City Hall and/or the Syracuse Fire Department through intimidation.
The court papers indicate Martin recently received a 44-day suspension without pay due to a departmental disciplinary action. Martin has been on leave for several months using accumulated sick leave, according to the court documents.
Martin says that is the result of a racially charged dispute he has been involved in with a white firefighter since last September.
Martin also was arrested on an unrelated misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree stalking. He’s accused of stalking a local school teacher who dated him for about five months before breaking up in May.
Martin is accused of leaving numerous love letters and notes in the victim’s mailbox and sending her constant text and cell-phone messages up to July 8.
Since then, he is accused of going to the woman’s places of employment on several occasions, meeting with her employers or supervisors, making false accusations that she was using and buying drugs on school property, accusing her of refusing to return to him bed linens, claiming she had anger management issues and that he feared her.
The victim told police in a three-page statement that she fears for her life and wanted Martin to leave her alone.
Martin is scheduled to be back in City Court later this week.