The sad, all-too-public unraveling of former KTVU anchor Frank Somerville appears to be continuing, as he was arrested not once but twice overnight in Berkeley, both times outside a home where his brother lives.
Somerville, 65, whose career at KTVU came to an end in 2021 after three decades of being one of the most recognizable on-air personalities in Bay Area TV journalism, allegedly had an altercation with his brother, Mark Somerville, outside a family home in Berkeley Monday evening.
As the Chronicle reports, Somerville showed up at the house around 6:30 p.m., according to Berkeley police, intending to confront his brother or other family members about "ongoing family issues." Family members said he refused to leave when asked, and one person was left with a contusion to their face. Somerville was subsequently arrested on misdemeanor charges of public intoxication, assault, making criminal threats, and violating probation — the latter charge likely stemming from his December 2021 DUI crash in downtown Oakland.
Somerville was released from jail in Berkeley later that night, then left the area, and then reportedly returned around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing a disturbance and ringing the doorbell at that same family home. Per the Chronicle, he was demanding some sort of belongings, and police once again said he appeared under the influence of some substances.
This time, Berkeley police said they observed Somerville driving while intoxicated, and arrested him on suspicion of DUI and, again, violating his probation.
The saga of Somerville's departure from KTVU began with an on-air incident of apparent intoxication which he blamed on mistaking some Ambien pills for another medication. That was a Sunday night broadcast on Memorial Day Weekend 2021, and after appearing to slur words on camera and have difficulty reading from the teleprompter, Somerville disappeared from the anchor desk and the broadcast was wrapped by Julie Haener.
Somerville was then off the air until August, when he reappeared without any explanation for his departure. He would be removed again, though, within weeks, ostensibly over a disagreement with the station's news director. At the time the station claimed an act of insubordination in which Somerville insisted on bringing up the concept of "Missing White Woman Syndrome" in connection with the national media's coverage of the Gabby Petito disappearance.
Subsequently, Somerville's contract at KTVU was not renewed, and he has given several interviews in the year and a half since his Oakland DUI openly discussing his substance abuse issues.
Most recently, in March, he sat down with KRON4's Pam Moore, and admitted that on that December night in 2021, he "got trashed."
"I mean there’s no other way to say it. I got trashed in my apartment, and I wanted to go to Taco Bell, which is two and a half blocks away from where I live. I made the idiotic decision to drive. I had absolutely no business at all to drive — at all," he said.
Somerville said he hadn't had many drinks in the 15 months following, but admitted to having some beers at a San Jose Sharks game.
Moore pressed him, saying, "You know most experts say if you’re addicted, you should not ever drink any." And Somerville replied, "Yeah, I’m not prepared to say I never will. It’s still a work in progress."
Photo via KTVU