Frank Somerville arrested twice in Berkeley in just 10 hours

Update, June 6: Former KTVU news anchor Frank Somerville was arrested again in Berkeley hours after being released from jail early Tuesday morning, authorities report.

Somerville was arrested at 4:20 a.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence after showing up at his parents' home in the 800 block of Indian Rock Avenue and repeatedly ringing the doorbell, Berkeley police said.

He said he was trying to find his lost cellphone, according to police.

Somerville, 65, was initially arrested Monday evening after arriving at the home inebriated and getting into a fight with his younger brother, police said.

Scroll down for the original story.

Police say Somerville posted a bond for his original $32,500 bail and was released from Berkeley Jail at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday.

He then went back to Indian Rock Avenue to get his vehicle before leaving the area, police said.

About an hour later, however, BPD was called to the block again on a report that Somerville had returned and was ringing the doorbell, BPD said.

He said he was looking for his cellphone, which he had lost Monday evening, police said.

"In an effort to retrieve his property," police wrote in a prepared statement, "Somerville continued ringing the doorbell until the victim spoke with him."

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When police arrived, Somerville was sitting in his vehicle, BPD said.

Frank Somerville. BPD

He "displayed objective signs and symptoms of public intoxication and was witnessed driving under the influence of alcohol," according to Berkeley police.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of DUI and probation violation, police said. Both are misdemeanors.

Somerville was ultimately taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was held on $15,000 bail.

He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, according to booking records online.

Somerville was placed on a three-year term of court probation — misdemeanor rather than felony — in August 2022 following a misdemeanor DUI conviction, court records show.

Somerville has no other criminal cases listed in Alameda County Superior Court.

Reached by email shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, Somerville said he "wasn’t drunk" when he was arrested Monday evening and described the dispute as a "family affair."

Frank Somerville's first arrest in Berkeley

Original story: Longtime Bay Area news anchor Frank Somerville was arrested Monday evening after a family disturbance at his parents' Berkeley Hills home, according to police and community reports.

Berkeley police were called to the home shortly after 6:30 p.m. to investigate reports that Somerville, 65, was inebriated and being violent, authorities said.

Officers responded to the home, in the 800 block of Indian Rock Avenue, and took Somerville into custody.

Frank Somerville's younger brother, Mark, told The Berkeley Scanner that Frank had shown up angry and threatened their father, who is 91.

When Mark told his brother to leave, he said, the two got into a physical altercation outside the family home.

Mark ended up detaining Frank until police arrived, he said.

Mark Somerville sustained visible facial injuries as a result of the encounter, according to community members at the scene.

Frank Somerville was arrested on suspicion of criminal threats, battery, public intoxication and probation violation, Berkeley police said.

The brothers grew up in Berkeley in the house on Indian Rock Avenue and later attended Berkeley High School.

Somerville struggled in recent years: DUI conviction, slurring on camera

Frank Somerville had an award-winning career spanning three decades at KTVU.

But the former news anchorman also struggled with alcohol and substance abuse for years, resulting in a DUI crash in December 2021 that made headlines around the Bay Area.

He had gone out that night craving Taco Bell but ultimately ran into an Audi at a red light in downtown Oakland, he told KRON4 earlier this year.

The driver got out of the Audi as "Somerville continued driving his black Porsche" into it, "ramming it into a pole," KRON4 said: His blood alcohol level was 0.24% when he was arrested, three times the legal limit.

Earlier that year, in June of 2021, footage of Somerville slurring on camera went viral online. That led to a leave of absence from KTVU for more than two months.

Many speculated that alcohol was the cause of the slurring but Somerville has said he accidentally took two Ambien instead of the prescription he meant to take.

The same year, he was suspended from the station over what he claimed was an editorial disagreement about how to cover the disappearance of Gabby Petito. His contract was not renewed.

KTVU has not confirmed his account.

Somerville sat down with KRON4 in March for a lengthy interview to discuss his substance and alcohol abuse as well as how he hoped to get back into the anchor chair one day.

This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.