Sparks Settles the Case—But Keeps the Firefighter

Maureen Hvegholm even has a GoFundMe maybe with the money raised they can donate the funds to seniors in Sparks now that they have a rumored windfall settlement from Travelers.

The City of Sparks has quietly settled the case of firefighter Timothy Egan, accused of assaulting 84-year-old Maureen Hvegholm over the crime of feeding stray cats. The 2022 incident drew statewide outrage—but here we are in 2025, and Egan is still drawing a taxpayer-funded paycheck.

So let’s ask the only question that matters: why is this man still employed? What else is being swept under the rug to keep him in uniform? And why is Mayor Ed Lawson comfortable with a firefighter who left an elderly woman bruised and shaken still representing his city? Seniors in Sparks clearly aren’t a priority for Lawson—unless, of course, he needs their votes in his next election.

The city hides behind its insurer, Travelers, which handled the lawsuit and settlement. But don’t be fooled: leadership can wash its hands all it wants, yet it’s Lawson’s Sparks that tolerates a firefighter like Egan. If Lawson truly cared about seniors’ safety, he’d be demanding accountability—not looking the other way.

And this isn’t happening in a vacuum. The roots of this mess go back to the bitter feud between Lawson’s former city manager and the Sparks fire union. Remember that fiasco? The city manager got caught skirting fire safety rules in his own home by not installing sprinklers, and the union erupted. The bad blood spilled into city politics, and discipline against firefighters became just another bargaining chip in their never-ending power struggle.

So yes—this is Lawson’s fault. His city’s leadership vacuum, the union wars, and his unwillingness to stand up for seniors created the conditions where an elderly woman could be assaulted, a firefighter could keep his badge, and the city could shrug it all off with a settlement check.

The truth? Sparks didn’t just fail Maureen Hvegholm. Sparks failed every senior who deserves dignity, safety, and respect. And Lawson’s silence speaks volumes: when it comes to protecting residents, the mayor is about as useful as those fire sprinklers his former city manager couldn’t be bothered to install.