Two videos circulating online appear to show Poway City Councilmember Tony Blain being detained by several uniformed officers and searched in the parking lot at City Hall after Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Videos posted on the Poway Politics and Recall Tony Blain Facebook pages show the men, who are wearing dark clothing, talking to Blain in front of a vehicle. The video on the Poway Politics page appears to show Blain being searched.
The videos are too dark to show details of what agency may have been involved in the incident, although the word “Police” can be seen on the back of one man’s shirt.
Blain sent an email Wednesday morning to city officials and others stating that “officers” were searching for a cell phone.
In February, the City Council voted unanimously to censure Blain amid allegations of vote trading, threatening recalls against colleagues and attempting to use law enforcement to silence critics. Blain called it a political attack.
A month later, of a group working to recall Blain said at a council meeting that the San Diego County District Attorney is investigating him. Mayor Steve Vaus said earlier this year that “appropriate steps have been taken” regarding Blain. “I have full confidence in our legal system and our (district attorney’s) office,” he said.
District Attorney representatives have declined to comment on that matter or the Tuesday night incident.
Blain did not reply to several texts requesting information on the incident. His attorney, Michael Wales, declined to comment when ed by telephone.
Blain’s email, sent at 8:24 a.m. Wednesday, seemed to blame city officials for the search.
“Funny thing is 46,000 Poway residents will vote who is Mayor NOV 2026 regardless of you and Fenstermacher, Vaus and Hazeltine having police search my car for a cell phone,” the email states. “Your dishonesty and unethical behavior, John & John, will come out very explicitly in election.”
The email refers to Mayor Vaus, City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher and City Manager Chris Hazeltine in addition to apparent references to recall leaders John Couvrette and John Mullin.
Rene Carmichael, the city’s community outreach coordinator, said no agency has communicated with the city about what was shown in the video. Poway contracts with the San Diego Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services, Carmichael said. The city does not have the ability to have an individual’s vehicle searched, she added.
“Nobody has communicated with us officially or unofficially about what happened last night,” she said Wednesday evening. “We are bystanders like the people who filmed (the video) and put it online.”
Couvrette, a local business leader who is heading the Recall Tony Blain campaign, said he was in the City Hall parking lot when Blain was detained. He said he asked a Sheriff’s deputy about who was conducting the inspection and was told they were uniformed police officers from the District Attorney’s Office.
“I know that they escorted him to his vehicle and patted him down,” Couvrette said, adding that he was standing by the flagpoles near Blain’s vehicle and saw the incident from a distance. “Then they spent a half hour or 40 minutes searching his car. I don’t know if they found something.”
Poway Sheriff’s officials did not return calls to comment about the incident.
Couvrette said his group got the dash cam footage from the owner of a car that was parked across from where Blain was parked.
Recall Tony Blain leaders allege that Blain, who ed the council as a District 2 representative in December 2024, abused his power by pressuring city staff to help him file a police report and get a restraining order against two residents who criticized him online – and when staff refused, he filed a report himself.
Couvrette said volunteers are more than halfway through the process of collecting enough signatures required to place a recall initiative on the ballot. The group has until July 15 to collect signatures from 25% of roughly 9,600 ed District 2 voters, or a total of approximately 2,400 signatures verified by the Registrar of Voters.
On April 30, Poway officials announced that the city has filed a lawsuit against Blain to seek his compliance with the California Public Records Act and to “stop the destruction of public records.”
The civil lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court alleges Blain has refused to produce requested public records from his private s, apps and devices and has deleted public records from those same sources and asked others to delete messages from him.
The city said the suit follows months of attempts to obtain voluntary compliance in response to numerous public records requests for Blain’s messages on private email s, text messaging and other applications, which are all subject to disclosure if discussing city business.
Blain declined to comment on the lawsuit after it was filed. His attorney, Wales, said in a statement that Blain is in the process of reviewing his devices and responding to the city’s request with the of his law firm.
Union-Tribune staff writer Kristen Taketa contributed to this report.
