ALAMEDA | Joel Spencer, husband of Alameda Mayor Trish Spencer, has filed a legal claim against the city alleging that Alameda police officers filed an untruthful report about his conduct following his arrest last March for drunken driving on Central Avenue.
Alameda police arrested Joel Spencer on March 17, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office subsequently charged him with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. According to court documents, Joel Spencer’s blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit. Spencer, 57, pleaded not guilty and is still awaiting trial.
But according to the notice of claim filed by Joel Spencer on September 16, his attorney alleges that Alameda police essentially targeted him and pulled his vehicle over without probable cause as part of an elaborate conspiracy to embarrass him and the mayor. “The police reports completed by the officers did not fully and truthfully report the incident, but also included false/untruthful claims about the driving and conduct of the claimant, ” wrote Andrew Dosa, attorney for Spencer. [READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT ALAMEDAMAGAZINE.COM]
ebcitizen.com 
It's a fair story.
The question, and point of dispute, is whether or not the original traffic stop was fair.
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Steve, the last commentator is right. This is a big story. Let's do a 5 part report on drunk driving, efforts to stamp it out. This could be a real opportunity to do outreach and raise public awareness of the issue. Let's not trivialize it. Maybe all the local bars, restaurants, grocery and other places that sell alcohol within the City can contribute to the discussion and maybe we can locate resources to establish a drunk driving safe zone or hotline to supply free or means tested safe rides home. I see this as being about so much more than merely the transgression of a spouse of a volunteer mayor, but about once and for all finding solutions for a national issue.
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No it doesn't. Not even close. Are those chem trails messing with your mind?
Is anyone denying Spencer was very drunk? And that he shouldn't have been driving? Sounds like he thought he should not have been stopped.
I think this is a fair story. Tavares tends to be fair. There was a case a few years ago when a loathsome local blogger (can't remember the guy's name) was arrested for alleged spousal battery. People were jumping all over it. Tavares was the person arguing he wasn't fair game as he wasn't a public figure. This, on the other hand, is a fair story and the public should be informed.
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Well, look at that…
The Alameda Police Officers Association PAC is Susan Reyes, who is the spouse of Benjamin Reyes.
Both of whom are aligned with Rob Bonta, who is aligned with the firefighters, former mayor Marie Gilmore and all of whom oppose the current mayor.
The police officers association PAC has spent money in support of the firefighters union slate, Vella and Ashcraft.
If we're writing a comment on this topic the way Tavares writes his stories, all of that adds up to compelling evidence of a conspiracy.
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We know from the ongoing spate of police killings of black people that cops routinely lie on reports.
Why shouldn't they lie as retaliation against a mayor they don't like?
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Wut? If it weaves, it leads? Is that what they taught you in journalism school? Didn’t they teach you that witch hunts are so 17th century?..
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Tavares, stop stop with this pettifoggery. I've got more important things to do. My official two-hundred-and-friggin-twenty-two page voter information guide for the California general election just came in the mail today from the Secretary of State, so I've got a lot of studying up to do. Our survival as a free society depends on not letting ourselves be swayed by a bunch of slick tv ads paid for by monied special interests. While we're reading, studying and taking notes in the margins of our 222 page voter guides, you're trifling and trying to distract us with this? Shame on you!
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If I had to live with Trish, I'd be a drunk too. Her husband should have been a Hayward Fire Chief and then he wouldn't have been arrested. He also would have been allowed to keep his job as a Fire Chief and be praised by city leaders. Surprised no one from MADD has jumped on any of this. Guess Alameda isn't as corrupt as Hayweird.
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By MW:
If: one, he is he is an alcoholic; and two, if he had often driven in the past while drunk – then very likely previous to the March incident he had been stopped at least dozens of times, and perhaps even hundreds of times, driving while drunk, but had been let go without receiving a ticket due to the fact that he was the spouse of the mayor.
And also still furthermore, if he has had a habit of driving while drunk, most likely virtually all of the time local law enforcement would not even stop him due to recognizing him and/or his vehicle, AND THEREFORE REALIZING HE WAS THE SPOUSE OF THE MAYOR.
By the time all of this finishes playing out, we might have to award Joel Spencer an Olympic gold medal in the category of “Not knowing when to quit when he was behind.”
And perhaps also Olympic gold medals in the categories of: one, DOUBLING DOWN WHEN ALREADY LOSING; and two, TAKING A BAD SITUATION AND MAKING IT WORSE.
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