Moment cops found drunk California politician who claimed she was a ‘victim’ after boozy convention

Troubling bodycam footage shows police struggling to care for a lawmaker found lying face down outside a nightclub after a boozy conference function.

Alameda City Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer attended the California Cities Conference in Long Beach, Los Angeles, on October 17.

Local politicians from around the state then moved on to a party at Bo Beau Kitchen & Roof Tap at 4pm, which Spencer said she left at 11pm.

Just an hour later, Spencer collapsed in front of the Alegria nightclub and was unable to stand when Long Beach police were called at 12.12am.

Police bodycam footage obtained by DailyMail.com under Freedom of Information showed Spencer passed out on the sidewalk when police found her.

She was lifted onto a stretcher by paramedics and taken to St Mary Medical Center, where other bodycam video showed her belligerent and uncooperative, hurling abuse at doctors and insisting ‘f**k you, no, I’m fine’.

A police report also released referred to her as ‘intoxicated’ and said the passerby who called police ‘said it looks like she has feces on the back of her pants’.

‘[The caller] tried to help her walk to the Metro station after she fell on the sidewalk, but she refused any help from [him],’ it stated.

Over the next 15 minutes, Spencer, still wearing her conference name badge, refused to answer most police questions and when she did speak her words were heavily slurred.

Spencer last week said she believed she ‘was the victim of a crime’ and through a friend on Friday disputed that she was drunk.

However, police maintained there was no indication a crime occurred, and officers in the videos and the police report refer to her as ‘heavily intoxicated’. 

‘She’s not a victim of crime, she’s just effed… whatever is wrong with her she’s keeping to herself,’ one policeman said to another in the footage.

Another cop in the hospital said: ‘I’m letting the staff deal with her right now, she’s uncooperative and she’s heavily intoxicated.’

The bodycam footage, from the perspectives of five cops at the scene and one in the hospital, began at 12.36am when the first officer arrived outside Alegria nightclub.

The female officer poked her leg and announced who she was to see if Spencer was conscious, but she was completely unresponsive.

‘She was out when I came, completely out… her pupils are super dilated,’ she later told a colleague of the condition she found Spencer in.

The policewoman eventually roused Spencer and helped her get on her side, and partially sitting up on her hands and knees.

‘I’m all good,’ Spencer insisted, but seconds later admitted ‘I’m scared’.

Spencer answered ‘no’ or shook her head when asked if she was lost, had been drinking, or took any drugs that night.

‘You were passed out,’ she said.

‘You’re not in trouble, we just want to make sure you’re OK. What’s going on? I saw you earlier at 7-Eleven.’

The policewoman later explained to colleagues that she and her partner encountered Spencer at the convenience store nearby, while she was still coherent and walking around.

‘She looked a little weird, she looked out of place – she just kept saying “thank you, thank you” for our service and that was it,’ she said.

Several officers kneeled down and tried to ask Spencer questions, but much of what she said was indecipherable over the booming nightclub music.

A male officer noted she was bleeding from her eyebrow, but she said she didn’t know how she fell and suffered the injury.

As the officers questioned her, Spencer gripped the fence of the nightclub’s outdoor seating, swayed her head back and forth, and tapped her right foot on the sidewalk.

Spencer was lifted onto the stretcher at 12.45am by two paramedics and loaded into the back of an ambulance to be taken to hospital.

The policewoman then went to speak to the Alegria bouncers, who denied Spencer entry moments before she collapsed outside.

‘I don’t know, she wasn’t speaking,’ he said, when asked what Spencer said as she tried to go inside.

‘Some guy was trying to walk to her hotel… Hyatt, that’s what he said,’ he continued, explaining they they made it to the corner and then she collapsed.

‘She didn’t speak to us, I just thought I can’t let her in, I thought they were a couple but the dude was just trying to walk her [to the hotel].’

The other bouncer added: ‘They were walking and then she collapsed, that’s when we had somebody call.’

The bodycam footage from the hospital began at 12.57am and was blurred once the policeman walked through the doors.

Spencer could be heard resisting treatment form doctors, and seen writing around on the hospital bed to the point where she had to be held down.

‘I’m not going to answer,’ she said when asked her date of birth.

‘No comment… who the f**k do you think… f**k you, no, I’m fine.’

Spencer repeatedly insisted ‘nothing happened’ and replied ‘where the f**k do you think?’ when asked where she was.

‘Do you drink every day or just a little too much today?’ one of the doctors asked, but she didn’t reply.

The officer eventually walked over to her and attempted to get her date of birth, but she refused to answer him.

‘I’m actually gonna call chief Joshi,’ she said, referring to Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi.

The cop asked Spencer several times if she had been drinking, but she refused to answer. He eventually gave up and walked away.

Spencer in the days after her medical emergency became public clarified that she was not arrested, and was able to catch her flight back to Alameda, a small city south of Oakland, later on October 18.

‘I have little recollection of the event. I believe I was the victim of a crime. I am still suffering from my injuries, including a concussion,’ she said. 

‘Notwithstanding my injuries, I was able to catch my scheduled flight home on Friday afternoon and began follow-up treatment early the next morning.

‘Follow-up treatment at a local hospital ER department documented a concussion and abrasions and bruising to the top and side of my head as well as bruises on the inside and outside of my arms. 

‘My medical provider explained that she was required by law to file a Suspicious Injury Report, which is required when there’s a reasonable suspicion that my injuries were from an assault or abusive conduct by a third person against me, etc. 

‘Some of my valuable personal belongings, including jewelry, are missing.’

Spencer appeared to be wearing some jewelry in the bodycam footage, and police told her they put her phone in her bag and kept both safe.

‘I want to make sure your stuff doesn’t get stolen,’ one told her. Spencer also had a purse strapped to her the stayed on until she was in the ambulance.

Spencer forwarded questions from DailyMail.com to her friend, retired lawyer Paul Foreman, who said they ‘quarreled’ with her being ‘heavily intoxicated’.

‘The videos showing Trish at the scene of the incident and at the ER do not provide any consistent evidence of intoxication,’ he claimed.

‘They are just as consistent with a concussion and other injuries which would produce shock. 

‘It is also important to note that on one video the officer is asking her if she is injured. Thus it is clear that the officer at that time had no knowledge of the extent of her injuries and their cause.’

Foreman said Spencer did not remember anything new about how she got into such a state, and still had ‘no memory of the police encounter and limited memory’ of her hospital visit.

‘She did not become aware that she might have been attacked until well after the incident when she noticed that she was missing personal effects,’ he said.

‘Medical personnel at her subsequent visit to a Bay Area ER the next day advised that her injuries raised a suspicion that she had been attacked which required that they report that to the police.’

Long Beach Police said there was no indication a crime occurred. It is not known whether Spencer was tested for alcohol or drugs in hospital.

Alameda City Council will at a November 6 meeting debate a motion to admonish Spencer over the incident.

‘The inappropriate conduct of a Councilmember undermines the public’s trust in all matters that come before the Council,’ the motion argued.

Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft, in adding the item to the agenda, argued her conduct violated part of the City Council Code of Conduct.

‘Members are constantly being observed by the community every day that they serve in office,’ the code read.

‘Their behaviors and comments serve as models for proper deportment in the City of Alameda. 

‘Honesty and respect for the dignity of each individual should be reflected in every word and action taken by members, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is a serious and continuous responsibility.’

The incident is poorly time for Spencer as she is up for reelection on Tuesday, with five candidates competing for two council spots.