![Ward 9 - Alondra Cano Minneapolis City Council Member ] August 29, 2014 GLEN STUBBE * gstubbe@startribune.com ORG XMIT: MIN1409191221583578](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/A4RMEWSLZ3YNB4H2ML3SWSR3GQ.jpg?&w=1080)
A former Minneapolis City Council member was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and getting in a two-vehicle crash outside City Hall, according to jail and police records.
Alondra Espejel, who served on the council under the surname Cano, was booked into the Hennepin County jail about 11:30 p.m. by Minneapolis police. She was released from custody Thursday evening, according to the jail log.
The statute cited on the jail log refers to a possible charge involving impairment by alcohol or a controlled substance.
According to police records, Espejel was involved in a “property damage accident” at 315 S. 4th St., the address of City Hall. Nobody was hurt in the crash. Police spoke with Espejel, the other driver and witnesses to the incident.
Espejel was arrested after she refused to be tested by law enforcement for alcohol and drugs, police records noted.
She was elected in 2013 and represented Ward 9 in central Minneapolis until 2022. She did not seek re-election.
A longtime activist, she was among the council members who called for the Minneapolis Police Department to be abolished in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. That proposal lost support as violent crime surged in the months that followed and polls showed the majority of voters did not approve of it.
