Officials said that US Border Patrol representatives were accused of fighting drunkenly with Long Beach police officers earlier this week, authorities said.
Isiah Hodgson, 29, was charged with several misdemeanor weapons crimes, with three counts, one count battery that resisted arrest, causing injuries to a police officer. Atty. Nathan Hochman.
“The actions that Hodgson, an agent of the Border Patrol, who is obliged to support the law and protect citizens, is unacceptable and deeply troubling,” Hochman said in a statement. “No one is beyond the law, regardless of their position or badge.”
Hodgson “off duty, drunk, armed with a handgun” inside the restaurant as he entered the woman’s bathroom and approached the woman, according to a statement from the District Attorney’s Office. The woman noticed Hodgson carrying a firearm and notified restaurant staff, prosecutors said. Outside the restaurant, security guards approached Hodgson and asked him to leave as firearms were not permitted on the property.
When Long Beach police officers responded to the scene, they determined that Hodgson was drunk and “when they tried to restrain him, they didn’t want to cooperate with their orders.” Prosecutors allege that Hodgson became “physical” with the officer and injured one of them.
A spokesman for the DA’s office did not immediately answer questions about the severity of the officer’s injuries.
Hodgson was released on his own perception, but according to the DA’s office, he is not permitted to own a firearm or leave the state.
Emails sent to representatives of the Long Beach Police Station and Border Patrol were not immediately returned. A spokesman for the LA County Public Defense Office, representing Hodgson, could not immediately comment. Hodgson pleaded not guilty during his arrest Friday and will return to court next week.
Hodgson faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted of being charged, prosecutors said.
The agent’s arrest has led to federal law enforcement continuing to engage in widespread migrant raids in Southern California, struck residents and filed several lawsuits. Earlier this week, Federal Agent Phallanx, led by Border Patrol and US immigrants and Customs Enforcement, descended to MacArthur Park on a show of military force that ultimately won Zero’s arrest.
While most elected officials have been heavily criticising the Trump administration’s tactics in recent weeks, the politically independent Hochman has tried to escape political conflict.
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