Saugus couple called for icing high school hockey players

SAUGUS – Department of Public Works director Brendan O’Regan has sent a letter to James and April Martinez of 332 Lynn Fells Parkway reprimanding them for creating a serious traffic hazard last Friday morning.Three high school students, Christopher Sanderson, James Alcott Jr. and Nicholas Sanderson hit a patch of black ice in front of the Martinez home on their way to school after an early-morning hockey practice at Kasabuski Arena. The 1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara they were in, driven by Christopher Sanderson, flipped and slammed into a guardrail more than 500 feet away.O’Regan said his department has not sent any similar letters to that residence in the past. He said James Martinez was home when he visited the crash site Tuesday.”He had come home to make sure the sump pumps were still running,” said O’Regan.O’Regan said Martinez told him that he has two sump pumps behind his home that connect to a storm drain. Martinez told O’Regan that there was a kink in one of the hoses Friday morning, thus causing the water overflow across the yard and into the road.O’Regan said he did not know if the Martinezes had been cited in the past for similar infractions as Lynn Fells Parkway falls under the jurisdiction of the state.”It’s not our road,” he said.State Police declined to comment while the accident remains under investigation.The Martinezes could not be reached for comment.