Ex-Minneapolis council member leaves jail after accused of trying to flee from drunken crash

A former Minneapolis City Council member attempted to flee the scene after crashing into the back of a vehicle while drunk, then defied police commands during and after her arrest, according to charges filed Thursday.

Alondra Espejel, who served on the council as Alondra Cano, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with two drunken-driving counts, a gross misdemeanor alleging she refused to submit to testing for intoxication and another for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Espejel, 44, was arrested at the scene of the crash downtown late Tuesday and was released early Thursday night after posting a $6,000 bond. She’s due in court on Nov. 13. Court records do not list an attorney for her.

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 polls showed the majority of voters did not approve of it.

She was elected in 2013 and represented Ward 9 in central Minneapolis until 2022, choosing not to seek re-election.

According to the charges:

Police responded to a report of a crash in the 300 block of S. 4th Street and spoke with a driver who said her parked vehicle was hit from behind by an SUV. Officers spotted the SUV driver still in her vehicle, who refused to identify herself.

Officers noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was slurred. Also, the complaint continued, “there was an odor of a consumed alcoholic beverage emanating from [her].” She continued to refuse to get out of the SUV but handed over her identification.

Eventually, Espejel “had to be removed from the vehicle as she was not complying with the officers’ commands,” the complaint continued.

A witness told police that he saw Espejel’s SUV turn onto 4th Street, where she honked at a driver ahead of her before accelerating and hitting the parked vehicle from behind. A second witness approached Espejel after the crash and detected she was drunk, prompting him to call 911.

An officer put Espejel through a field sobriety examination, and she failed all aspects of the test. She could not keep her balance or maintain focus, according to the complaint.