Former KTVU anchor Frank Somerville arrested after getting into fight with family member

BERKELEY – Ex-KTVU anchor Frank Somerville was arrested Monday night in Berkeley after getting into a fight with a family member, according to jail records and media reports.

Officers were called around 6:30 p.m. to a home in the 800 block of Indian Rock Avenue, where Somerville’s brother was restraining Somerville, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

A spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department told the newspaper Somerville had arrived at the residence intoxicated. He then got into a dispute that quickly escalated, police said.

Somerville, 65, was being held at the Berkeley City Jail on misdemeanor charges of battery, criminal threats and disorderly conduct, according to jail records. His bail was set at $27,500.

Somerville is set to be arraigned Thursday at the Wiley M. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.

The police spokesperson did not immediately return messages seeking details about the arrest.

Somerville’s 31-year career at KTVU ended on Jan. 31, 2022, when his contract expired and the station opted not to bring him back. He had been arrested a month earlier on suspicion of driving under the influence in Oakland. Somerville said in an interview at the time that he did not believe his arrest was a factor in KTVU’s decision.

“They had told me long before that,” Somerville said.

The crash happened Dec. 30, 2021, around 7:45 p.m. near West Grand Avenue and Broadway. Police said Somerville was driving a Porsche and rear-ended another vehicle.

In November 2021, Somerville told this news organization that management had not contacted him since his suspension three months earlier for an off-air dispute about coverage of the Gabby Petito case.

The suspension was his second of the year. He was off-air for much of the summer following a May 30 newscast in which he repeatedly slurred and stumbled over his words.

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