Ex-Murrieta mayor charged with DUI in crash that injured cheerleaders

Prosecutors charged the former mayor of Murrieta with felony DUI on Thursday in connection with a crash that hurt four cheerleaders and prompted him to resign from office.

Alan Long, 44, faces one count of driving under the influence of alcohol and injuring the teen girls, all of them Murrieta high school students, according to the Riverside County district attorney’s office.

Long, a Murrieta resident, was arrested on Oct. 16 after he rear-ended the students’ vehicle while driving south on Jefferson Avenue toward Lily Avenue in a full-sized truck, police said.

Long, who is also a battalion chief with the Anaheim Fire Department, showed “signs and symptoms consistent with alcohol impairment,” police said.

He was taken into custody after failing a series of sobriety field tests, police said.

According to prosecutors, Long’s blood alcohol level was at 0.08, which they say “presumes a driver to be impaired.”

Long’s attorney, Virginia Blumenthal, has insisted that the mayor’s blood-alcohol level was “well below” the legal limit.

Long resigned as mayor of Murrieta days later, but he said he planned to run again and seek a second term.

He was elected in November 2010 with the “highest number of votes,” according his biography on the city’s website.

He’s due to be arraigned Dec. 11.

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