A border patrol agent of the United States out of service was accused of fighting drunk with Long Beach police officers earlier this week after he was asked to leave a bar, authorities said.
Isiah Hodgson, 29, was accused of three positions of resisting the arrest, a position of aggression that caused injuries to a police officer and several crimes of minor weapons in relation to the episode of July 7 in the area of the village of the coast, an occupied tourist section of Long Beach not far from where Queen Mary is docked, according to Los Angeles County, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman.
“The conduct exhibited by Mr. Hodgson, a border patrol agent who has the duty to defend the law and protect its citizens, is unacceptable and deeply worrying,” Hochman said in a statement. “No one is above the law, regardless of their position or badge.”
Hodgson was “out of service, intoxicated and armed with a gun” inside a restaurant when he entered the women's bathroom and approached a woman, according to a statement from the district prosecutor's office. The woman noticed that Hodgson had a firearm and notified the restaurant staff, prosecutors said. Outside the restaurant, a security guard approached Hodgson and asked him to leave, since firearms were not allowed on the property, according to the press release.
When Long Beach's police officers responded to the scene, they determined that Hodgson was intoxicated and “was not willing to cooperate with their orders while trying to stop him.” Prosecutors claim that Hodgson became “physical” with the officers and wounded one of them.
A spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office did not immediately answer a question about the seriousness of the officer's injuries.
Hodgson was released under his own recognition, but he is not allowed to possess firearms or leave the State, according to the district prosecutor's office.
The emails sent to representatives for the Long Beach Police Department and the border patrol were not immediately returned. A spokesman for the Public Defensor Office of the County of the, who represents Hodgson, could not comment immediately. Hodgson declared himself innocent during a charges reading on Friday and expires in court next week.
If he is convicted as accused, Hodgson faces up to seven years in the state prison, prosecutors said.
The arrest of the agent occurs as the Federal Police continues to participate in generalized immigration raids throughout the southern California that have devastated residents and generated several demands. Earlier this week, a phalanx of federal agents led by the border patrol and immigration and customs control of the United States descended to the MacArthur Park in a militaristic force of force that finally scored zero arrests.
Although most of the elected officials have largely criticized the tactics of the Trump administration in recent weeks, Hochman, a political independent, has noticeably tried to stay out of political fray.
