Former anchor charged with driving under influence
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against former Bay Area news anchor Frank Somerville following a Dec. 30 car wreck in a busy downtown Oakland intersection.
Charging documents show that Somerville is facing two counts for driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood level alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, along with an enhancement for having a blood alcohol concentration that exceeds 0.15.
The driver who believes Somerville hit him told The Chronicle he had stopped at a red light on West Grand Avenue and Broadway when another car slammed him from behind with enough force to shake him in the driver’s seat.
Tom Fortier recalled parking his Audi S4, getting out and approaching the driver’s side window of the car that hit him, a dark gray Porsche. He saw a man gripping the steering wheel and “gazing straight ahead” as he revved the engine, pushing the Audi across the street with such force that its wheels came off the ground.
The driver, who police later identified as Somerville, allegedly kept pressing his foot on the accelerator as the Audi hit a pole, and three bystanders rushed to the Porsche, banging on the driver’s side door and telling him to turn off the ignition.
According to a probable cause declaration, Somerville was driving a 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo Blue east on West Grand Avenue at about 8:20 p.m. when he rear-ended a silver Audi, at which point the driver of the Audi got out, and Somerville allegedly kept driving, pushing the Audi through the intersection until it collided with a pole at the southwest corner.
When officers approached Somerville, “he exhibited symptoms of being under the influence of an alcoholic beverage: bloodshot/watery eyes, thick/slurred speech, and odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his person,” the declaration said.
It went on to say that Somerville cooperated with a horizontal gaze nystagmus standardized field sobriety test, in which an officer assesses a person’s eye movement, and that he “showed signs of impairment.” Somerville than submitted to a preliminary alcohol screen test with two results: a 0.239 blood alcohol concentration and a 0.219 blood alcohol concentration.
He was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, and police obtained a search warrant for his blood sample, which resulted in a 0.24 blood alcohol concentration — three times the legal limit.
“Mr. Somerville takes these charges very seriously,” his attorney, Shannan Dugan, wrote in a statement.
“Mr. Somerville ... takes full responsibility for what happened that night.” Shannan Dugan, attorney for Frank Somerville
“He has been taking steps to address the circumstances that led to this case, including attending meetings and working on himself so that nothing like this ever happens again.
“He is extremely sorry to the person he hit and has provided all information to his insurance company to cover the other driver’s losses.”
Since the case is pending, Somerville “cannot personally comment at this time,” the statement read, “but he takes full responsibility for what happened that night.”
Somerville, 64, met controversy last September amid a dispute over coverage of the Gabby Petito homicide case. He was placed on leave after trying to add commentary about racial justice to a broadcast about Petito, which the station news director nixed.
Somerville had sought to highlight the disparity between white and Black victims, but editors expressed reservations about his verbal “tag,” saying it drew conclusions about the Petito case that had not been substantiated, and that it warranted a separate story with more context.
After supervisors cut the tag, a shortened version appeared in a subsequent newscast’s script.
His suspension in September marked the second time that year that Somerville left the air.
In June a spokesperson for Fox Television Stations, which owns KTVU, said the anchor was going out on medical leave for two months after he slurred his words during a broadcast.