A complaint filed with the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office against Signal Hill City Councilmember Edward Wilson (pictured) and his partner, Deborah Betance, has been rejected based on “insufficient evidence.” The complaint concerned an alleged physical dispute between the couple at a Long Beach hotel last November while Wilson was serving as mayor.
As reported in the Signal Tribune last November, Wilson, who was mayor of Signal Hill at the time, and Betance, an elementary-school teacher, were arrested at Hotel Maya in Long Beach on Nov. 17 on suspicion of a domestic-violence incident between the two parties.
A complaint-rejection document Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert provided to the Signal Tribune this week indicates that one Rubi Castro had filed the complaint against Wilson and Betance on Feb. 20, but, “due to some evidence of mutual combat,” the prosecutor’s office was “unable to determine a primary aggressor.”
The document also states that the “incident is one on one with minor/no visible injuries to either suspect. If either party is in fear of [the] other, [the situation] is best handled civilly by obtaining a civil restraining order.”
Multiple efforts to reach Wilson for comment this week went unanswered, as of press time.
Although the details of the incident were unclear— police could not provide information in response to press inquiries because the two individuals were protected under state law as victims— some in Signal Hill were compelled to call for Wilson’s resignation as mayor, including Councilmember Larry Forester.
At the city council’s meeting on Nov. 28, Forester had requested that “reorganization” of the council be added to the Dec. 12 meeting agenda after Wilson’s alleged public “misconduct.”
During the Dec. 12 meeting, council members deliberated on the issue after hearing public comments both in favor of and against removing Wilson as mayor.
Ultimately, Forester withdrew his motion, but with a caveat. Forester said that if further charges were filed against Wilson, he would “want the motion back.”
The then mayor did make apologies during both the Nov. 28 and Dec. 12 meetings.
“I apologize for any embarrassment or hardship this has caused,” he said during the latter. “I take full responsibility. We will move forward. This is a great city, and I love this city.”
The incident also prompted the council, along with the City Council as Successor Agency, on Dec. 12 to unanimously approve adopting a conduct manual that includes directives for official behavior and censure guidelines.
