Alan Long, former mayor of Murrieta, California was charged last week with driving while intoxicated and causing bodily injury. He was forced to resign from his post as mayor, following the arrest.
Murrieta, located in Southern California was in the headlines recently, when the surge of undocumented individuals, many of them children and women, crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. Many of these individuals who were apprehended in Texas were transported to the town of Murrieta to a United States Border Patrol office.
The former mayor gained notoriety when he spoke openly about the plan to have the immigrants transferred to Murrieta. Long began a local campaign to protest the Federal Government’s actions on the matter. His behavior gained national attention this summer in the months of June and July when the city of Murrieta’s official website denounced the Federal Government plans on moving the immigrants. A protest ensued when the arrival of the buses carrying these women and children was due to arrive in Murrieta. These protestors blocked the streets so that the Department of Homeland Security’s transportation was thwarted. The buses were unable to reach the U.S. Border Patrol office in Murrieta and had to turn around and leave the city.
At the time, the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson was not pleased with the city’s demonstration. He stated that he found the images of what had transpired in Murrieta as “very disturbing.” The former mayor defended the actions of his community stating that he had genuine apprehensions for security and public health.
Long was arrested on October 16, 2014, when he was driving his pick-up truck after having consumed alcohol that registered at 0.08 percent, the legal limit under California law. The accident occurred when he rammed his truck into the back of a passenger car that was carrying four Murrieta Valley High School cheerleaders. The girls, whose ages ranged from 14 to 17 were injured in the crash and all were taken to a local hospital where they immediately taken and hospitalized. He was charged with one felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol and causing bodily injury. He was originally charged with four separate counts of bodily injury, one for each of the girls, three for causing bodily injury and one for causing great bodily injury and his arraignment is set for December 11, 2014.
According to the City of Murrieta’s website, former Mayor Long, who was elected to his post in November 2010, was also a chief of the Anaheim Fire Department. The website states that Long is a Sunday school teacher, an athletic coach and a counselor for at-risk youths in the area. Interesting enough the city of Murrieta, established on July 1, 1991, was first settled by an Immigrant Spaniard named Esequial Murrieta, who moved to the area since it reminded him of his beloved homeland of Spain. The website also totes that Murrieta is “a community with a past and vision for its future. One that welcomes challenges, takes risks, embraces opportunity.”