How stupid do you have to be to get behind the wheel of a vehicle with your belly full of alcohol. . . especially if you are a first responder sitting on top of the world as mayor of a California city, happily married, with things going so well in your life?
My, my, my, how quickly life can come crashing down with one, stupid little error in judgement. One betrayal of the public trust, despite knowing better as a fire fighter, and Alan Long's life could become something he never thought was possible.
The toxicology results have come in, and it turns out that those who were defending former Murrieta Mayor Alan Long, saying his blood-alcohol level was below the legal limit, were in error. Their opinion was based on the preliminary results from a breathalyzer at the site of the accident, during which Long's blood-alcohol was registered at 0.07 and after which he failed the field sobriety test. The tests regarding his blood-alcohol level the night Long slammed into the rear of a car full of teenage cheerleaders say he was actually at 0.08, which means according to the law, Long was presumed to be impaired. As a result, on Halloween 2014, Long was formerly charged with a felony DUI (Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol), and faces four allegations of causing bodily injury that could add to his sentence if he were to be convicted as the charges specify. The potential penalty could be as long as nine years in prison. His arraignment is scheduled for December 11, over a month after the election that he refused to withdraw from after he resigned as mayor of Murrieta.
On October 20, Long declared his innocence, quipping that his eventual exoneration was reason enough for him to seek reelection, and the only reason he resigned was because the criminal investigation may serve as a distraction to his duties as a city councilman. Now, with the blood-alcohol test results emerging as evidence of Long's illegal inebriation in regards to being behind the wheel of a moving vehicle on the night he injured four teenage girls in a vehicular accident, his sixteen year career as an Anaheim Fire Department battalion chief, and any political career he thought he might be embarking upon, was been placed in serious jeopardy by his foolish decision to get behind the wheel of a vehicle with alcohol in his system.
As a first responder, he should have known better.
As I told Los Angeles NBC 4 News in an interview conducted in the parking lot of Miguel's Jr. yesterday near Los Alamos and Whitewood, "I am not angry. I am disappointed. Long became the face of Murrieta in July during the Immigration Protests, and his actions have not only sullied his own life, but has given Murrieta a black eye as a city." Long's foolish drunken adventure, as with any of our own decisions do in any situation, carries consequences, and Long's actions have influenced more than his own, miserable little life.
The vehicular accident in question that Long caused while drunk behind the wheel of his full-size pickup truck occurred on October 16. Three of the girls in the vehicle he struck suffered from minor injuries. The fourth child is recovering from a fracture to her neck.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Murrieta: Ex-mayor charged with felony DUI - Press Enterprise
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