Editor’s note: After this story published, Councilmember Cindy Allen issued a statement about the incident that contradicted some of the details she initially gave to the Post. A video of the encounter also surfaced online after publication. The video aligned with the description of the incident that Allen relayed to the Post prior to her public statement.
A man told police he was pushed by Councilmember Cindy Allen Friday morning outside a campaign event, and was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Allen, in an interview, denied any physical contact with the individual, who police did not identify.
Allen was attending a mayoral campaign event hosted by Councilmember Rex Richardson at the Providence Gardens senior living apartment complex near Downtown.
Long Beach Police Department spokesperson Allison Gallagher said officers were dispatched to the 1000 block of Pacific Avenue, where Providence Gardens is located, around 11:41 a.m. in response to the incident in which a man claimed that a woman pushed him. Gallagher did not confirm the identity of either person.
The man involved was transported by Long Beach Fire Department personnel to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to the LBPD. Gallagher declined to elaborate on the extent of his injuries.
Though the woman involved was no longer on the scene, officers were able to contact her via phone call to interview her, police said.
Officers interviewed witnesses at the scene, and the incident is being investigated as a battery, authorities said.
Rumors quickly spread on social media that Allen had “punched” someone outside of the event, with accounts of the alleged attack being spread on Instagram and Twitter.
Allen said she was exiting the event when a person started to film her as she walked to her car with a staffer. She said she pulled out her phone to start recording them as she continued walking. She denied that physical contact ever took place.
“Saying I hit him is so far from what happened,” Allen said.
“If this had been an altercation I would have called the police,” she added.
She claimed that the person who was filming her had filmed her in the past, which is why she travels with a staffer as often as possible.
Allen was elected to the City Council in June 2020, and her campaign to win the 2nd District council seat was roiled by accusations that her opponent’s supporters had surveilled her home for months in an attempt to prove she lived in Orange County, not Long Beach.
Allen is ineligible to run for reelection in the district again because of how the new district lines were drawn in December. Her term ends in 2024.
When reached by phone Friday, Richardson said he was unaware of any incident happening at the event.