Former Bay Area anchor discusses alcohol-fueled assault, says he is 'clean' now

A veteran Bay Area TV anchor is speaking out about a booze-fueled attack on his girlfriend and her daughter last year, saying he was “completely drunk off my ass” at the time and expressing remorse. Frank Somerville, 67, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the episode happened before he sought treatment for his alcohol issues in December 2024 and that he is now a “totally different person.” The comments come as Somerville remains under investigation for a separate alleged choking of his own daughter during a violent incident at his home and after he was arrested Monday for the fourth time in five years.

According to reports from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the November 19, 2024 confrontation involved Somerville punching his girlfriend, Elaine Coleman, 59, and then striking her daughter, Madeline Gordon, 28, when Gordon tried to intervene. Coleman sought a restraining order three days after the arrest, claiming she had been abused and that her daughter had been assaulted. She later dropped the request, and the couple remained together. Gordon testified that Somerville pushed her into a television, pulled her hair, punched her in the face, and attempted to hold her down by the neck. She described chest pain and injuries including bruises on her ribs, an injured finger, and hair loss from attempts to pull her hair out. Coleman said the day of the assault the two had been drinking, and she suggested he may have been experiencing a mental health episode. Somerville posted on social media that he and Coleman shared a lifestyle focused on a diet with “no processed foods” and “no alcohol.”

Coleman later applied for a restraining order but chose to drop it; she said her boyfriend later entered rehab and that her goal was for him to participate in an intervention program. Despite the severity of the injuries described in court filings, she and Gordon said they did not view Somerville as an ongoing threat at the time and thus did not pursue restraining orders beyond the initial filing. Somerville has since insisted that he was at rock bottom and that he has since pursued treatment and sobriety. Coleman said his behavior in the months leading to the assault was the result of an alcoholic who was not pursuing sobriety.

The confrontation at Somerville’s home is only the latest in a string of legal troubles for the longtime broadcaster. He studied Krav Maga and said that when his daughter scratched his face, leaving a bloody wound, he acted out of instinct and claimed self-defense because she had harmed him first. He claimed that if he had wanted her to pass out, she would have.

Somerville built a 31-year career at the Fox affiliate now known as KTVU, where he anchored mornings and evenings and earned multiple Emmy Awards. The San Francisco Bay Area station suspended him twice in 2021, once for slurring his words on a newscast and again after disagreements with producers over coverage of the Gabby Petito case. After a separate DUI-related crash in 2022, KTVU let his contract expire. The episodes that followed included two arrests in 2023 for drunken fights—one with his brother and another in which he was found at his brother’s home displaying signs of public intoxication and other incidents suggesting ongoing alcohol issues.

In the latest development, Somerville was booked in Santa Rita Jail for suspected battery earlier this week, according to local authorities. He has repeatedly asserted that his recent actions are not reflective of who he is today and that he has embraced sobriety and rehabilitation as part of moving forward. The Daily Mail has not disclosed any further comment from Coleman beyond her restraining order filings and statements to authorities.

The case continues to unfold as Alameda County prosecutors review the 2024 incidents alongside the ongoing investigation into the allegation that Somerville choked his daughter. Legal observers note that multiple arrests in a short span can complicate a case, but investigators will continue to rely on medical records, witness statements, and any available surveillance footage to determine whether charges are warranted and how they should be pursued. Somerville’s public remarks to the Chronicle are likely to draw renewed attention to a career once defined by his steady stewardship of local news as questions about accountability and personal conduct remain in the public sphere.