An Alameda city council member running for re-election may be reprimanded for her behavior during a recent city trip to Southern California.
Video footage released by Long Beach police shows Alameda City Councilwoman Trish Herrera Spencer appearing to be heavily intoxicated.
Next week, the Alameda City Council will vote on whether to issue a reprimand for the incident. All this is happening as she faces re-election on Tuesday.
Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, who has read the police report and seen the video, says it speaks for itself.
On October 18, Long Beach police responded to a call about a woman who appeared to be drunk on the ground. Body camera footage released shows officers surrounding Herrera Spencer.
“What’s going on?” one of the officers asks. “You fainted here. Have you been drinking? Like I said, you’re not in trouble. Some people were worried about you.”
Herrera Spencer did not answer many of the officers’ questions and did not want their help or go with emergency medical services. She tells one of the officers, “I’m fine,” after he says medical personnel will examine her.
She was eventually taken to the hospital, where she continued to refuse to give officers her date of birth and threatened that she was “going to call Chief Joshi,” referring to the Alameda police chief.
“I’m letting the staff deal with her now, she’s not cooperating and she’s definitely drunk,” one of the police officers said on a video taken at the hospital.
Officers were able to obtain 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 council member since 2014, when Herrera Spencer was mayor of Alameda.
When CBS News Bay Area asked Ashcraft if she had ever seen this kind of behavior from Herrera Spencer before, she replied, “Yes.”
Now, Ashcraft and Alameda Councilwoman Malia Vella have initiated a vote that Herrera Spencer violated the city charter’s code of conduct while representing the city on a taxpayer-funded trip.
“It is about asking the full council to pass a resolution reprimanding Councilmember Trish Hererra Spencer for her conduct as documented in the police report and further documented in the video,” Ashcraft said.
Herrera Spencer did not respond to a request for comment. She shared a statement with the Alameda Post on October 22 saying she remembers little of the event and believes she was the victim of a crime.
An Alameda resident who wished to remain anonymous said she was not concerned about the video.
“I don’t hold people accountable for what they do outside of work. We’re all human. We make mistakes. But you still have a life outside of work, and just because you’ve done something outside of work doesn’t mean it’s a reflection on your work itself.”
But Ashcraft says she’s not just worried about Herrera Spencer’s work, she’s also worried about her life and well-being.
“What I hope is that this can 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 and probably even died from a hard fall on her head if that had happened.”
The vote to possibly censure the councilor will take place the day after election day, on Wednesday, November 6.
