A judge has sentenced a former Minneapolis City Council member to probation and community service for attempting to flee after crashing into the back of a vehicle and then defying police commands during and after her arrest.
Alondra Espejel, 44, who served on the council as Alondra Cano, was sentenced on Jan.12 in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty on Jan. 12 to third-degree drunken driving for refusing to submit to testing for intoxication.
As spelled out in the plea agreement, Judge Andrew Tweeten sentenced Espejel to seven days of what’s called sentence to serve, which often means being part of a supervised work crew. The sentence also includes two years’ probation and $450 in fines and fees.
A longtime activist, Espejel 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 while under arrest. That proposal lost support as violent crime surged in the months that followed, and the proposal was overwhelmingly defeated by voters.
She was elected in 2013 and represented Ward 9 in central Minneapolis until 2022, choosing not to seek re-election.
Police responded to a report of a crash in the 300 block of S. 4th Street late on Oct. 28 and spoke with a driver who said her parked vehicle was hit by an SUV. Officers spotted the SUV driver still in her vehicle, who refused to identify herself.
One officer asked the driver for her license and proof of insurance. Instead, the driver “attempted to put the vehicle in drive and flee the scene,” the complaint read. The officer opened the driver’s side door, turned off the SUV and repeatedly ordered her out of the vehicle.
