The mayor of Murrieta, California, has been charged with a felony count of drunk driving after injuring four teenage girls and faces up to nine years in prison if convicted, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Alan Long, 44, resigned as the mayor of Murrieta last week before being formally and publicly charged with the felony this past Thursday, the LA Times reported. He is convicted of causing bodily injury.
In June and July, Long led the anti-immigration groups who were speaking out against the governments response to the illegal immigrants crossing into the United States through the border with Mexico, according to the LA Times.
Long publicly criticized the U.S. plans for hundreds of Central American children and adults caught illegally crossing from Mexico into Texas to be transferred to a U.S. Border Patrol office in Murrieta for processing, the LA Times reported.
The protesters who blocked the road and forced buses carrying immigrants to a processing center in Murrieta were led there after a message was posed on the city's website declaring the transfer a public health and security hazard, Reuters reported.
Long's arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 11 and is currently free on a $50,000 bond, CBS reported. He was taken into custody on Oct. 16 after he hit a car carrying the four Murrieta Valley High School girls, police said.
Police said Long's blood alcohol content registered .08, the legal limit at which one is considered to be under the influence according to California law, according to CBS.
Long's attorney, Virginia Blumenthal, argued that the mayor's blood-alcohol level was "well below" the legal limit, the LA Times reported.
Long was elected mayor of Murrieta in November 2010 and had previously served as a battalion chief with the Anaheim Fire Department, CBS reported.
Long said he was innocent during his resignation speech, but added he wanted to express his "concern for the well-being of those injured in the accident," and that he is sorry "that they got hurt," according to CBS.
Even though he has resigned as mayor, Long said the accident, and pending trial, has not deterred him from future plan to run again for mayor, CBS reported.
"I want to make it very clear that while I'm resigning my position as mayor and as a member of the city council, I am not withdrawing from the current election," Long said during his resignation speech, according to CBS.
