MANCHESTER, NH – A city resident, who criticized the Manchester Police Department after a June officer involved shooting that resulted in the death of a 56-year-old man, was fired from his job after police allegedly targeted his employer.
Kevin Martin was fired from his barista job at Hometown Coffee Roasters allegedly because of emails Police Chief Alan Aldenberg sent to his police contingent. The emails resulted in officers boycotting the Old Granite Street business. Once Martin was canned, the boycott ended.
At the July 2, 2024, Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting, Martin accused police of murdering Andrew Smith “in cold blood as he fled from his execution.” The shooting took place at 9:30 a.m. on June 28, 2024 on Bridge Street, between Beech and Ash streets.
Martin’s comments contradict the findings of the state’s Medical Examiner who said Smith died June 28, 2024 of gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.
Police said an officer on patrol approached Smith to speak with him. Smith told the officer he had a gun and the officer told him to keep his hands where he could see them, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
Smith reportedly reached for his pocket and the officer fired multiple times, hitting Smith in the chest and abdomen, killing him. The shooting remains under investigation.
The comments by Martin, a self-described “organizer for the Party of Socialism and Liberation,” apparently angered the police chief. During the public portion of the Sept. 3, 2024 aldermanic meeting, Sebastian Rowan, who also criticized police during the July 2, 2023 meeting, accused Aldenberg of sending two emails to his officers that resulted in Martin being fired.
Rich Girard of Girard-At-Large obtained the chief’s emails, after filing a Right-to-Know request with police. Manchester Ink Link asked public information officer Heather Hamel on Thursday to send a reporter copies of those emails but she said Ink Link needed to file another Right-to-Know request even though they are already public. Ink Link did as asked, but as of publication of this article still hasn’t received them.
According to Girard, the emails show that at 7:31 a.m. on July 3, 2024 – the morning after Martin’s comments — Aldenberg sent an email to “MPD New,” which Girard said a source told him goes to all sworn police personnel. It included a photo of Martin and said: “The individual in the included photo made some seriously disparaging public comments about MPD.”
Aldenberg went on to say that he fully respected “the right of citizens to speak during the public comment period of the meetings but I have no doubt that his comments crossed the line.” He said he had a “brief conversation” with Martin that “did not go well.”
He did not mention Martin by name nor did he specifically call for a boycott of Hometown Coffee, according to Girard’s post.
“I only bring this to your attention as I learned after the meeting that this person works at Hometown Coffee on Old Granite. By no means am I telling anyone what businesses you choose to patronize but I feel it is necessary to bring this to your attention.”
On July 9, 2024 at 11 a.m. –six days after his initial email—Aldenberg sent a second one to his officers: “Once again Hometown is a good place to buy your coffee. The owner has addressed the issue.”
Michael Brown owns Hometown Coffee Roasters at 80 Old Granite St., which has been in business for eight years. He declined to comment for this article.
Aldenberg also declined comment on the emails and several emails Ink Link sent to Mayor Jay Ruais for comment received no response.
Prior to the September aldermanic meeting, a small group protested outside City Hall, calling for Aldenberg’s termination. The protest was the result of an Aug. 12, 2024 incident in which officers were recorded on video harassing a homeless man, who they said was trying to defecate against a building in an alley behind The Flats on Hanover Street. The officers told the man they were going to play a game of “manhunt” and would give him a head start. Then they began a countdown with One Mississippi, Two Mississippi.
Hamel on Friday, nearly a month after the incident, said it was still being investigated.
This is not the first time that the actions of a city official resulted in a resident being fired from his job.
Scott Hartford, a self-described outspoken liberal Democrat, said he lost his job because Alderman At-Large Levasseur targeted him on Facebook for a snarky social post Hartford made shortly after a bullet grazed Donald Trump’s ear in the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt.
Hartford wrote on his private Facebook page: “Good thing that crooked Joe picked good secret service agents for the orange Cheeto.”
Hartford said he initially thought the attempted assassination was a publicity stunt and, minutes later, after learning it wasn’t and someone was killed, he took down his post.
Hartford said people called and sent emails to his employer at the behest of Levasseur, then a U.S. Congressional candidate, costing him his job.
Levasseur is a staunch supporter of Trump, and said he ran for Congress solely to support Trump’s agenda.
It was Levasseur who, after the mayor’s praise of Aldenberg, made a motion that the board take a vote of “100 percent confidence” in the chief. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.
This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.