“You don’t need to come in here and say that,” she says.
Some of Celedon’s family members are heard speaking in muffled Spanish, which further angers Lappin in the video.
“This is Fourth of July! Yeah, you want to do that, throw it in my face? Just wait motherf----r,” Lappin said.
At that point, Celedon moved the camera’s view from the floor to Lappin’s face.
A man softly tells Lappin: “Stay away. Stay away.”
“I don’t know what you’re f-----’ sayin’” Lappin continued. “Don’t you do that in my country. Yeah, walk away. Do that, respect my f------ country.”
A that point, the door was shut and Lappin left.
The Petaluma officer who responded to the home at the family’s request spoke with them, took notes and offered to contact Lappin for the family, who declined, said Petaluma Police Lt. Ron Klein.
“Essentially there was no crime committed,” Klein said. It’s not illegal to knock doors and walkways are a public right of way unless there’s a gate, which they didn’t have. Lappin hadn’t actually entered the house, but the officer did tell the family to call again if anything else happened, Klein said.
The family ended up watching fireworks from their front yard as planned, and tried not to let the confrontation ruin their holiday completely. But Celedon says life has been a blur since she posted the video online, and it was difficult to explain to her two kids why Lappin confronted them over such a thing as music.
“This is not OK, you can’t do that to people,” said Celedon, who has family members who served in the U.S. military. “We weren’t doing anything to anybody except celebrating.”
Their music wasn’t playing very loud, and Lappin actually had much louder music at the time, Celedon said, but they didn’t complain about it.
Zahyra Garcia, community organizer and co-chair of Indivisible Petaluma, a local chapter of a national civil rights group that formed after Trump’s election, is organizing a private barbecue on Sunday for Celedon and her family.
She said she was not moved by Lappin’s reported apology.
“If you’re going to be an open bigot, be prepared for the consequences,” Garcia said. “This is everybody’s country and they have the right to celebrate how they want.”
Celedon said she has received an outpouring of support from people who watched her viral video online and from people around her.
“It feels nice to have back up from the community,” she said.
The cookout Sunday will have carne asada and an array of Latin music — salsa, bachata, mariachi, banda — and more, Garcia said.
“It’s a redo of the Fourth for her and her family,” she said. “I think she and her family deserve a cookout and to be proud of who they are.”
Petaluma Argus-Courier News Editor Yousef Baig contributed reporting. Staff Writer Susan Minichiello can be reached at 707‑521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@susanmini.
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