In recent weeks, Downey residents have heard testimony from Joaquín Beltrán, a resident and former candidate, speaking out on his encounter with Downey District 4 Council Member Claudia Frometa. 

Beltrán and his witnesses say that, a few days before the November 2022 election, Frometa violently approached Beltrán and a community member outside Ralph’s on Lakewood Blvd. Frometa demanded that Beltrán stop handing out campaign flyers, claiming that he was in violation of a city ordinance, and that he did not have permission. 

Beltrán says he told Frometa he did have permission, prompting her to violently grab his shoulder, saying “I don’t believe you.” She proceeded to enter the store to demand that the manager stop Beltrán and remove flyers that had been allowed to be placed near the entrance. 

Frometa then went back outside the store and again told Beltrán to stop, aggressively grabbing him again. She told Beltrán she would call the police, who arrived on scene soon after Frometa had left Beltrán’s side. Once at the site, the police defended Beltrán’s right to hand out flyers outside the store, and provided him with information to follow-up on the case. 

In the weeks that followed, Beltrán visited the Police Department on several occasions, and spoke with Detective Hill, who had been assigned to the case. He learned that the case was being investigated as an assault and battery case, and that Hill would be filing the results of her investigation with the District Attorney. 

The case was filed on 11/28/22, and after weeks of not hearing back, Beltrán went to the District Attorney’s office on 12/23/22. At the time, they were unable to locate the case in the system, but Beltrán was notified on 12/26/22 that the case had been received, and would be evaluated in the coming weeks.

In discussing the case, Frometa has taken the approach that she merely called to have the police check in on the legality of Beltrán’s activity—a claim that seems at odds with police records of her 911 call. 

In early December, she gave a Spanish-language interview to Alfa News, in which she both said “People are free to run their campaign as they want, so long as they follow local laws, of course,” but followed up with, “Now, it’s important to see that people have common sense. And certain hours of the night are not appropriate.” We translated the interview for English-speaking audiences:

The statements in her interview show that Frometa knew Beltrán’s campaigning was legal, but that she took a personal stance that his legally protected activity was “not appropriate”—a statement that likely exposes Frometa and the City to litigation. 

Now that the case has been filed with the District Attorney as an assault and battery case, Beltrán has voiced concern, saying “No one is above the law and elected officials have a higher responsibility and should never hurt the community and abuse their title to commit crimes, I really hope this case is treated transparently and without any special privileges or immunities given her position as Mayor. The fact is that she violently grabbed me, two times, in a blatant attempt to get me to stop campaigning. She harmed not only me, but also the community member I was speaking with. This was assault, battery, voter suppression, and more.” 

SELA Report will follow the case closely.