I Hope She Wins, And Wins A Lot
And I hope the DA grows a pair and files criminal assault charges against the agents
A University of Virginia student charged last year with assaulting Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents attempting to stop her for underage possession beer that turned out to be sparkling water has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the state and seven agents.
Among other things, Elizabeth K. Daly’s 47-page suit, filed Tuesday in Richmond Circuit Court, alleges malicious prosecution, failure to train ABC agents appropriately, and six counts of assault and battery.
Michael Kelly, director of communications for Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, said, “It’s incredibly unfortunate that the situation that night in Charlottesville occurred at all. As this case proceeds, the Attorney General’s Office will defend the commonwealth’s interests and work to ensure a just and reasonable outcome.”
Now from that quote you can see the AG sure sounds like he’s looking for a way out of this. And for good reason:
According to the suit, Daly and two friends went to a Harris Teeter store in Daly’s Chevrolet Trailblazer, arriving shortly before 10 p.m. Among other items purchased by one of Daly’s friends was a case of canned LaCroix sparkling water. The women walked into the parking lot, one of them carrying the clearly visible sparkling water.
Seven ABC agents were in the parking lot watching for young-looking individuals and checking their identification to ensure no state laws were bring broken. Two agents followed the three to their car.
Daly got behind the wheel, one friend sat in the front passenger seat and placed the sparkling water on the floor and the other friend got in the back seat. Before starting the car, Daly saw two people approach the car and begin banging on the windows.
The two agents, says the suit, “allegedly displayed their badges hanging from necklaces which at the time and under the circumstances were not clearly visible or readable.”
The agents warned Daly not to turn on the car, but she and a friend were unable to open the windows using buttons because the car was not running. Other agents ran to the car.
The suit alleges that Daly called 911 on her cellphone, which she handed to a friend. The friend told the operator that they could not tell if the agents were real law enforcement officers.
Daly “was shaking and saying, ‘I don’t know what to do!’?” One agent suddenly drew a gun, pointing it toward the ground.
When an agent tried to break a passenger window with a steel flashlight, Daly drove off with some of the agents chasing on foot. She drove out of the parking lot and stopped at a red light intending to drive to a police station.
While at the red light, the 911 operator confirmed to the women that they were real ABC agents, according to the suit.
Police arrived on the scene and drove Daly to the police station, where an ABC agent swore out a criminal complaint that led to Daly’s arrest over assaulting two agents and over failing to stop when ordered.
Daly spent the night in jail and was released the following afternoon. On June 27, the charged were dropped. On Oct. 22, the arrest and court records were expunged.
These sorts of way-over-the-top police incidents for “crimes” so pernicious and perilous, crimes that threaten the very the Survival of the Republic like, well I shudder and blanch to mention, crimes like Under Age Possession and Presumptive Consumption of Carbonated Beverages By Teetotalers, these sorts of things are where the courts and the citizens need to hit back, and hit hard. This type of governmental abuse can not be allowed to stand.
Caprice and arbitrary thuggery are the hallmarks of a police state.
Makes Ya Barf, Media, Morality, Nanny State, Politics, UVa | Mr. Bingley | 
March 30, 2014 7:57 am
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“Caprice and arbitrary thuggery are the hallmarks of a police state.”
And that’s exactly where we are at. I’m she’s pushing back; in fact, $40 million is too low a figure.
Unfortunately there’s little caprice or arbitrary about this sort of thuggery. Constitutional protections have become little more than suggestions, ignored whenever the state deems them inconvenient.
I intended to say capricious.¹
¹Proofreading is your friend.
“You will comply, citizen. Or we will kill you for your sparkling water.”
They weren’t even suspected of a dangerous crime, just underaged drinking. But they had to act aggressive to scare the bejeezus out of the poor girls.
The police in this country are out of control and I blame the police unions that have encouraged a no-risk mentality that makes the police escalate every encounter.