By Editor,James Cirrone,Samantha Rutt

Copyright dailymail

An award-winning news anchor is under investigation for allegedly choking his daughter to the point of near unconsciousness during a violent altercation at his home.

Frank Somerville, 67, was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County in California on Monday evening after reportedly tackling his daughter to the ground and gripping her neck so tightly that she nearly passed out.

The incident began as an argument over money and escalated when 20-year-old Callie Somerville attempted to take his phone, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

It marks the former KTVU anchor’s fourth arrest in less than five years.

The incident began around 5:45 p.m. on Monday, when Caliie arrived at her dad’s North Oakland home, upset that her bank account was overdrawn, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Somerville told police he asked her to leave, and when she refused and grabbed his phone, he restrained her in an attempt to get it back.

He said she punched and scratched him during the struggle, at which point he brought her to the floor and placed one hand on her neck and another over her mouth to keep her from screaming, according to his account to police.

However, Callie, a licensed security guard, told officers that her father was the aggressor, and that she only scratched him in an attempt to defend herself.

Callie eventually fled to her mother’s home, also in North Oakland, where she called 911.

Officers responding to the scene reported finding her in her car with blood on her shirt and visible welts on her neck.

Somerville arrived shortly afterward in his Porsche with cuts and bruises on his arms and torso.

While he initially declined to press charges, Somerville changed his mind after learning that his daughter had filed a felony battery complaint against him, according to the sources familiar with the investigation.

Callie was not arrested.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and has not yet determined whether formal charges will be filed.

Somerville’s attorney, Shannan Dugan, said she hoped the matter could be resolved privately.

‘I know he loves his daughter and I’m sure that his daughter loves him,’ Dugan said.

The incident marks Somerville’s latest brush with the law, many of which have been linked to alcohol.

In June 2023, Somerville was arrested twice in the span of nine hours after having confrontations with family members at a residence in Berkeley, which is just north of Oakland.

He was cuffed at the Berkeley home at 6:36pm on Monday after allegedly getting into a fight with a relative.

He then reappeared at the home early Tuesday morning and was accused of getting into a wrestling match with a male family member. He was arrested again at 3:26am.

In December 2021, he crashed his Porsche into another car a few blocks from his home in Oakland’s Uptown.

Police said he rear-ended the other driver’s car, which crashed into a pole on the corner of the intersection, KRON4 reported.

The other driver was taken to the hospital, and Somerville was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence.

He was given a breathalyzer test, which showed his blood alcohol level was .24 at the time of the crash, three times the legal limit.

Somerville pleaded no contest to the DUI charge in August 2022 and was ordered to attend DUI classes. He was also given three years probation, which ended this year.

A month after the Porsche crash, KTVU let his contract expire, ending his 31-year career with the FOX-affiliated station.

This came after KTVU suspended him twice in 2021, once for slurring his words during a newscast.

The other suspension came because he reportedly sparred with the station’s producers on how he thought they should have been covering the Gabby Petito investigation in September of that year.

Somerville, who has a black daughter, reportedly argued that their coverage should have a disclaimer about how media coverage of missing persons investigations tend to focus more on white women than women of color.