Alameda City Council considers reprimanding Trish Herrera Spencer after public intoxication bodycam released

Video footage released by Long Beach police shows Alameda City Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer was heavily intoxicated and refused assistance from law enforcement while attending the League of California Cities Conference on Oct. 18 in Long Beach.

The department’s incident report and officer body camera footage, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and given to the Bay Area News Group, show Spencer was intoxicated and unresponsive as first responders treated her as a “medical emergency,” according to police interactions in the body. camera images.

In the wake of Bay Area News Group first report of the incidentthe Alameda City Council will consider Spencer scolded at the next meeting on Nov. 6 for violating the city’s code of conduct during a taxpayer-funded trip to represent the city.

“A council member’s inappropriate conduct undermines public confidence in all matters before the council,” the agenda item said.

Spencer is seeking re-election to the Alameda City Council, where she has served since 2016. Spencer faces Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Greg Boller, journalist Alsohan Amarasiriwardena, special education teacher Michelle Pryor and electrical engineer Steve Slauson.

Spencer and other council members traveled to Long Beach to attend the League of California Cities Conference, where local government leaders attend workshops and networking events to “take their organizations to the next level.” City representatives from across California attended an event at the Bo Beau Kitchen & Roof Tap, located at 144 Pine Ave., on Thursday from 4 to 11 p.m.

According to LBPD surveillance footage, an officer had spotted Spencer at a 7-11 earlier in the evening and noticed her dilated pupils, a common sign of intoxication. Around midnight, a bystander was helping Spencer walk along Pine Avenue on her way to her hotel when she collapsed next to the Alegria nightclub on Pine Ave. 115, according to officers’ comments on bodycam footage. She and the bystander tried to enter the club, but the bouncer refused her entry because she could not speak. Spencer briefly returned to the sidewalk before collapsing next to the club, prompting the bystander to call police at 12:12 p.m.

When officers arrived on scene, bodycam footage showed Spencer lying on the ground, supporting herself with one arm, as she struggled to respond to officers’ basic questions about her identity and where she was staying. Officers repeatedly told her she “wasn’t in trouble” as they tried to help her get up. But Spencer refused their help, saying, “I’m fine.” She then lay back down on the floor and became unresponsive.

A Long Beach Fire Department Emergency Medical Services team arrived on scene at 12:45 p.m., loaded her onto a stretcher and placed her in an ambulance to be taken to a local hospital for treatment of a head contusion and bruising around her arms , according to bodycam footage and the LBPD.

In a statement Spencer gave to the Bay Area News Group on Oct. 22, she said she was the victim of a crime that left her with a concussion with “little memory of the event.”

“Unfortunately, a few social media sites and posters are posting that I have been arrested and many other false statements. These are lies created by political opponents trying to smear my reputation,” Spencer wrote.

She also claimed she was missing personal belongings, including her jewelry. However, Spencer is wearing jewelry in the officers’ bodycam footage.

Spencer also claimed that her medical provider had to file a Suspicious Injury Report that evening due to suspicions that her injuries were the result of assault or abuse. However, suspicious injury reports can also be filed if the injuries “could have been inflicted by the injured person’s own actions,” according to the California Office of Emergency Services.

The video footage shows that as LBPD officers relayed information to paramedics, one officer stated, “She is not the victim of a crime… whatever is going on with her, she did it to herself.”

Additional questions from the Bay Area News Group to Spencer following the release of the LBPD bodycam footage were referred to her boyfriend and retired attorney Paul Foreman, citing her ongoing recovery from a concussion.

“Her public statement indicates that she has no memory of the police encounter and limited memory of receiving medical attention in Long Beach and that she suffered a concussion,” Foreman wrote to the Bay Area News Group. “She did not become aware that she may have been attacked until long after the incident, when she noticed that she was missing personal belongings.”

Originally published: October 31, 2024 at 3:08 PM PDT