{"id":509202,"date":"2026-10-27T06:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T06:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/509202\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T06:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T06:04:11","slug":"supporters-rally-at-tower-theater-as-naindeep-singh-addresses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/509202\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporters rally at Tower Theater as Naindeep Singh addresses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_2475.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations.\" alt=\"Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations.<\/p>\n<p>                LILIANA FANNIN<\/p>\n<p>Over 100 people came to show support for Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh on Monday evening in the wake of DUI allegations against him that he denies.<\/p>\n<p>Singh, a Central Unified trustee locked in a tight race for the District 1 council seat, was arrested Saturday evening on suspicion of driving under the influence of a drug, according to Fresno Police.<\/p>\n<p>The news broke Sunday evening. His supporters were quick to dispute the accusation and question the timing so close to Election Day on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Singh took part in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/politics-government\/article317789934.html\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exclusive interview with a prominent California Punjabi-language radio station Monday morning<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/politics-government\/article317789934.html\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">, contesting the allegations against him.<\/a> After a day of not otherwise addressing the arrest publicly, Singh held a community press conference at Tower Theater on Monday evening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe government transparency begins with public officials being truthful, accountable, and willing to speak directly with residents, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m here today,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n<p>District 1 residents, community leaders, a few other candidates, Councilmember Miguel Arias and other supporters filled the canopy entryway of the Tower Theater to the sidewalks. Many in the crowd chanted, \u201cWe stand with Deep (Naindeep),\u201d and held up his campaign signs.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793081051_403_IMG_2475.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" title=\"IMG_2475.jpeg\" alt=\"Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations.\"\/>                                                                                    Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations.                                                                                            LILIANA FANNIN                                                                                                                What Singh says happened the night of the arrest<\/p>\n<p>Fresno Police have declined to provide basic details about the arrest to the media, saying only that official toxicology reports are pending. Singh told the crowd Monday that an officer on a motorcycle pulled him over around 11 p.m. Saturday for expired plates as Singh was turning left onto Olive Avenue from Wishon Avenue. He said he had paid for the registration on June 19 and brought a poster of his DMV receipt to the press conference. He said the officer said police didn\u2019t have it in their system.<\/p>\n<p>Singh said the officer then proceeded with a DUI investigation Singh said he fully cooperated, including a field sobriety test and a Breathalyzer. He said he tested negative for both in terms of alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw the nature of the questions,\u201d Singh said. \u201cI saw the nature of the relationship begin to kind of change, and at that point, the officer posed to me whether I would be willing to go to Community Medical Regional Center to undergo a toxicology exam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t take any types of toxicants, so for me, it wasn\u2019t even an issue whether I would comply or not,\u201d Singh said. \u201cI would absolutely show up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was then taken to Community Medical Center for the test for the investigation, where he decided to also do an independent toxicology examination. A spokesperson for the Fresno County District Attorney\u2019s Office told The Bee the results of the official test could take up to three weeks. Singh received and shared the results of his independent test Monday morning, with negatives across the board, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo such thing ever occurred, never will occur,\u201d Singh said. \u201cMy attorney and I intend to review the law enforcement test results when they become available, and again, I expect to be fully exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Singh acknowledged the questions raised about the circumstances and timing of the incident, but said he does not want to speculate about anyone\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe we should address those questions through documentation, transparency, and an objective review of the facts,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I fully hope that there\u2019s going to be an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Singh faces community college trustee and former federal prosecutor Rob Fuentes for the District 1 seat. In a statement to The Bee on Monday afternoon, Fuentes pulled back on his initial comments to the media criticizing Singh\u2019s arrest, as well as a mass campaign text message sent out Monday morning calling on Singh to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am waiting on the results of the official toxicology reports before passing further judgment on this incident,\u201d Fuentes told The Bee.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supporters rally behind Fresno City Council Candidate Naindeep Singh in the wake of DUI accusations. LILIANA FANNIN Over&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-509202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}