Oceanside police chief’s wife who attempted suicide is arrested

The embattled wife of Oceanside’s police chief has been taken into custody following a suicide attempt last month after she was convicted of shooting at police during a standoff.

Brinda Sue McCoy, 49, was released from Los Alamitos Medical Center late Thursday after two weeks of treatment and was arrested and taken by ambulance to the jail ward at Western Medical Center in Anaheim.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said she was in critical condition when transported but that her condition is improving. McCoy, a registered nurse, is being housed in her own room and will be under 24-hour surveillance by medical staff, Amormino said.

McCoy, whose husband is the police chief in Oceanside and a former mayor in Cypress, was convicted June 18 of firing her husband’s handgun at police officers during a standoff Dec. 16, 2010.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseño released McCoy on $250,000 bail, pending her Sept. 10 sentencing, with strict instructions for her to follow if she wanted to stay out of jail. McCoy was ordered to stay at her home, wear an electronic monitoring device and submit to a mental examination. She also was to remove all weapons and metal knives from the home; she would be allowed only plastic picnic utensils.

On June 24, McCoy was found bleeding in her backyard by Cypress police officers, who began performing “life-saving measures.” Authorities have not said how she was injured or whether a weapon was found. Authorities said no one else was involved.

After her hospitalization, Briseño revoked her conditional release and ordered her arrest on a no-bail warrant.

Officials say it’s unlikely she will be released before her sentencing.

“She was released once on bail, and for her own safety she’s not going to be let out again,” Amormino said.

McCoy faces a maximum sentence of 29 years in prison for the conviction. Her call to Cypress police in 2010 prompted a 90-minute standoff during which she fired two shots. No officers were injured.

During the trial, McCoy testified that she was in a suicidal spiral after an argument with her husband, fueled by prescription pills and martinis. She testified that she thought if she summoned police to her house, they might shoot and kill her.

“I was feeling overwhelmed, distraught,” she told jurors.

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