Alameda official faces reprimand for apparent intoxicated encounter with Long Beach police
An Alameda city councilmember who's running for re-election is facing a possible reprimand over her conduct on a recent city-backed trip to Southern California.
Video footage released by the Long Beach Police Department shows Alameda City Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer, who appears to be heavily intoxicated.
Next week the Alameda City Council will vote if should be reprimanded for the incident. All of this is happening while she is up for re-election on Tuesday.
Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, who has read the police report and seen the video, says it speaks for it's self.
On October 18th, Long Beach Police responded to a call about a woman who appeared to be on the ground and intoxicated. The body camera footage released shows officers surrounding Herrera Spencer.
"What's going on?" asks one of the officers. "You were passed out right here. Have you been drinking? Like I said, you're not in any trouble. Some people were concerned about you."
Herrera Spencer didn't answer many of the officers questions and didn't want their help or to go with emergency medical services. She tells one of the officers "I'm good," after he says medical personel are going to check her out.
She was eventually taken to the hospital where she continued to refuse to give officers her birthdate and threatened that she was going to "call Chief Joshi," referring to Alameda's Police Chief.
"I'm letting the staff deal with her right now, she's uncooperative and she's definitely intoxicated," one of the police officers is heard saying in video taken at the hospital.
Officers managed to get her name because she was still wearing her badge from attending the League of California Cities Conference earlier in the day.
Mayor Ashcraft was also at the conference. She didn't see Herrera Spencer there, but she did see the video.
When asked what she felt after seeing the video, Ashcraft replied, "Sadness, and disappointment."
Ashcraft has known the councilmember since 2014, when Herrera Spencer was mayor of Alameda.
When CBS News Bay Area asked Ashcraft if she had ever seen this type of behavior from Herrera Spencer before, she replied, "Yes."
Now Ashcraft and Alameda Councilmember Malia Vella have initiated a vote that Herrera Spencer broke the city charter's code of conduct while representing the city on a tax-payer funded trip.
"It's to ask the full council to approve a resolution reprimanding councilmember Trish Hererra Spencer for her behavior as documented by the police report and further documented by the video," said Ashcraft.
Herrera Spencer did not respond to a request for comment. She shared a statement with the Alameda Post on October 22nd saying that she has little recollection of the event and that she believes she was the victim of a crime.
An Alameda resident who wants to remain anonymous says she's not concerned about the video.
"I'm not holding people to what they do outside of work. We're all people. We make mistakes. But you still have a life outside of work, and just because you did something outside of work doesn't mean it's a reflection on your work itself."
But Ashcraft says she's not just concerned about Herrera Spencer's work, she's also concerned about her life and well-being.
"What I would hope is that this could be a wake up call. It was bad enough, but it could have been so much worse," the mayor said. "She could have been injured, probably have even died from a hard fall to the head if that had happened."
The vote to potentially repr1mand the councilmember is scheduled to take place the day following Election Day, on Wednesday, November 6th.
