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Felony charges were dropped on Thursday against a 20-year-old University of Virginia student who says she panicked when undercover agents from the state's Alcohol Beverage Control division mistook her water purchase for beer. :|

According to Charlottesville (Va.) Daily Progress, the student, Elizabeth Daly, was walking to her car on April 11 at approximately 10:15 p.m. with a box of sparkling water, cookie dough and ice cream she had just bought from a local supermarket when the agents?six men and one woman, all in plainclothes?approached suspecting the box, a blue carton of LaCroix sparkling water, to be a 12-pack of beer. One jumped on the hood of her SUV; another pulled out a gun, Daly said, as her roommates seated inside looked on in horror.

"They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform," Daly wrote in an account submitted to the court. "I couldn't put my windows down unless I started my car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were ... terrified."

Daly's roommate in the front passenger seat told her to "go, go, go"?and that's what she did, apparently "grazing" two of the agents in the process.

The students called 911 as they left the parking lot, police said, and were pulled over by another agent driving a vehicle with lights and sirens, Charlottesville Commonwealth Attorney Dave Chapman told the paper.

Daly apologized when she realized who they were, Chapman said, but agents arrested Daly and charged her with two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and one count of eluding police?each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $2,500 in fines. She spent the night in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

"This has been an extremely trying experience," Daly wrote. "It is something to this day I cannot understand or believe has come to this point."

Either can Chapman.

"It wouldn't be the right thing to do to prosecute this," he said.

Nonetheless, Chapman "stood by the agents' decision to file charges, citing faith in a process that yielded an appropriate resolution."

"You don't know all the facts until you complete the investigation," he said.

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how'd they know she wasn't 21 or over? seems a bit over the top to have 6 undercover cops to stop underage drinking?

 

that,and was it really necessary to jump on the hood of her car, and even more so, pull a gun on her?

Even if she had bought beer, all they should have done is walk over the car, show their ID, ask her to show her ID and what she bought :-p

 

 

 

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how'd they know she wasn't 21 or over? seems a bit over the top to have 6 undercover cops to stop underage drinking?

They probably ran her vehicle tags and got her age from that.

As to the underage drinking enforcement; in most states (including Michigan & other large college states) this is looked on very seriously as a huge percentage of major accidents involve drunk or buzzed teens. As such in this area there is a multi-jurisdictional task force that works with the State Liquor Control Commission to root out the sellers and interdict their underste customers.

Some State LCC's have their own enforcement officers as well, and sometimes they even recruit undersge "deputies" to entrap sellers who violate the law.

All that said, these officers acted like asshats and deserve to be sued.

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how'd they know she wasn't 21 or over? seems a bit over the top to have 6 undercover cops to stop underage drinking?

 

Underage drinking of ... water ...

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"They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform," Daly wrote in an account submitted to the court. "I couldn't put my windows down unless I started my car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were ... terrified."

Daly's roommate in the front passenger seat told her to "go, go, go"?and that's what she did, apparently "grazing" two of the agents in the process.

The students called 911 as they left the parking lot, police said, and were pulled over by another agent driving a vehicle with lights and sirens, Charlottesville Commonwealth Attorney Dave Chapman told the paper.

Daly apologized when she realized who they were, Chapman said, but agents arrested Daly and charged her with two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and one count of eluding police?each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $2,500 in fines. She spent the night in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Ridiculous. :no:

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Clearly this girl was innocent until proven guilty and the tactics those agents used were completely justified.

 

Just asking the girl what she bought wouldn't have cut it in this situation. Clearly.

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Clearly this girl was innocent until proven guilty and the tactics those agents used were completely justified.

 

Just asking the girl what she bought wouldn't have cut it in this situation. Clearly.

 

Specially since there as been case in north america of people committing a crime while pretending to be police officers using a fake badge. I can understand why 2 girls alone panicked when undercover agents pulled their gun out to make an arrest with the only thing to indentifiy them was their badge. After all the girls at this point had done nothing wrong. That might be a good idea dunno to have someone or two with an official jacket to act when it's the time to make an arrest.

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Yeah, I would have hit them with my car too. Their reaction was way too aggressive for the nature of the crime.

 

Nature of the theoretical crime. Since no crime was actually committed. Also had those officers not decided to abuse their powers the "assault" wouldn't have taken place as well.

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6 officers even if she was underage drinking is just insane, pulling a gun is even worse. 21 is a stupid drinking age limit anyway

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that just seams all sorts of crazy and even if it was a legit case of under aged alcohol purchase why are they after her and not the cashier and why would they use such excessive force.

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Jumping on her Car, Guns drawn? For potentially underage drinking? Seriously?

This is the sad state of the country we live in now. There should NEVER be a time where an officer of any field of law raises a gun to you or even attempts to stop your or communicate with you without first showing proper identification. If I had 6 fools jumping on my car with guns I'd take the hell off too. It's fine to be undercover, but when you find a target you want to pursue, CLEARLY announce that you are a law enforcement officer and show your badge immediately, not after.

 

I'm not really a big fan of frivolous lawsuits, but I'd wait for my case to be dropped, which SURELY it will be, then I'd sue the city for "emotional hardship" or whatever crap they use as excuses now. Police are getting out of control in this country. Protect and serve is the job, not lurk and attack.

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Welcome to the Charlottesville police. Having been there many years ago, I can safely say that you never wanted to even give the impression of doing something wrong around the police there because of the results.

 

They are well known for setting of speed traps (around sudden speed limit drops), overstepping and general incompetence. The area is rather snotty, and I have always suspected that much of the police force was made up of exactly what people assume them to be: bullies in the area that could not make it out of the area after High School, and their level of enforcement is simply payback.  Unfortunately, snotty areas or not, this seems to be an ever-growing problem in police departments across the US.  With that said, I have been roommates with multiple VA State Troopers, and I have seen both the good and the bad there; the good does still exist.

 

She should sue the police department, and each one of these officers should at least be suspended without pay to cover any losses.  Such people need to be given the boot as soon as possible.

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6 officers even if she was underage drinking is just insane, pulling a gun is even worse. 21 is a stupid drinking age limit anyway

Ain't the "land of the free" great?

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My argument here would be that they didn't clearly identify themselves as police officers before attempting the arrest.  As such, she has every human right (and instinct when faced with a gun) to flee.

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Pretty easy to see why they were so panicked. 

 

 

Daly and the other passengers had just come from a ?Take Back the Night? event on campus, where they heard the testimonies of dozens of survivors of sexual assaults and other violent attacks. With the details of those crimes fresh in their minds, the women believed that their safety was in danger.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/28/woman-jailed-for-late-night-water-purchase-after-anti-sexual-assault-rally/

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6 officers even if she was underage drinking is just insane, pulling a gun is even worse. 21 is a stupid drinking age limit anyway

 

I disagree. I think the drinking age should be 25 at least.

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