Crime & Safety
Murrieta's Former Mayor Charged with Felony DUI
Alan Long is expected to be arraigned in December, at which time he'll make a plea.
Murrieta’s former mayor was charged Thursday with felony drunken driving in an Oct. 16 collision that left four high school cheerleaders injured.
Alan William Long, 44, who resigned his elected position in the wake of his arrest, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, along with four sentence-enhancing allegations. He also works as a Anaheim Fire Department battalion chief.
Long, free on a $50,000 bond, was expected to be arraigned at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta on Dec. 11, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Long resigned Oct. 20, but said he would seek re-election to a second four-year term next week.
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Long, who driving a a full-size pickup truck, allegedly rear-ended a sedan carrying four cheerleaders from Murrieta Valley High School at Jefferson and Lily avenues shortly after 8 p.m. that Thursday night. The victims, 14-17 years old, were taken to hospitals, two with what Murrieta police Lt. Ron Driscoll called major injuries.
Long showed “signs and symptoms consistent with alcohol impairment,” police said. Long’s blood-alcohol content was 0.08 percent, John Hall of the District Attorney’s Office said.
In a news conference at Murrieta City Hall Oct. 20, Long said that “once all facts regarding the event have been revealed and the legal due process is complete, I will be exonerated.”
Still, he said it would be better for the city if he stepped down, though he said he saw “no reason why I should not seek re-election.”
Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn, speaking on behalf of the city fire department, told City News Service earlier this month that Long’s schedule had not changed. Dunn said Long’s superiors would be “monitoring the investigation” to determine what, if any, disciplinary action to take.
Long found himself in the national spotlight over the summer, when busloads immigration detainees, many of them juvenile border crossers seeking asylum, from detention centers in south Texas were turned away by activists in Murrieta, where the federal government planned to temporarily house them.
— City News Service.
