LA mayoral staffer accused of attacking officer

LOS ANGELES – A staff member in the Los Angeles mayor's gang-reduction office has been arrested on suspicion of attacking police officers during a scuffle at a downtown nightclub.

Police Lt. Jim Gavin says Blanca Martinez-Navarro, a program manager for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was booked Sunday for battery on a peace officer along with her husband.

Gavin says police received a call about a domestic disturbance at the Conga Room. He says the husband attacked officers when they arrived, and Martinez-Navarro jumped on the back of one of the officers and began hitting him as they took her husband into custody.

She was released after posting $20,000 bail.

Villaraigosa Chief of Staff Jeff Carr tells the Los Angeles Times that Martinez-Navarro has been placed on administrative leave.