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Liquor Agents Cleared in Controversial and Bloody Arrest of UVA Student

The Alcoholic Beverage Control agents involved in the bloody takedown of a University of Virginia student in March went back on active duty Monday.

By Travis Fain

The Alcoholic Beverage Control agents involved in the bloody takedown of a University of Virginia student in March went back on active duty Monday.

After an administrative review, handled by the Virginia State Police, the department concluded that the agents didn't violate ABC policy, it said in a news release.

A separate criminal investigation didn't bring any charges against the agents, and Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman said the takedown didn't seem to be malicious. The resisting arrest and public intoxication charges initially filed against the student were dropped, with Chapman saying it was in the community's best interest to move on.

The incident initially led to protests and concerns about racial equality. The agents involved are white, and the student, Martese Johnson, is black. And paired with a 2013 incident in which plainclothes ABC agents approached a U.Va. student over what turned out to be bottled water, drew a gun, broke her vehicle window and arrested her as she tried to flee, the Johnson arrest fed concerns about the overall attitude of ABC enforcement.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe ordered retraining, with an emphasis on de-escalation tactics. A review panel has been meeting for months, and will continue to. Incidents such as these are rare, according to ABC statistics, but the panel is mulling a number of potential reforms, and concerns linger about whether an agency meant to oversee state liquor sales should have an armed police force with full arrest powers.

The agents involved in this latest case were never publicly identified, and their administrative review will not be released to the public, the agency said Monday. The state's Freedom of Information Act generally exempts disclosure of personnel files.

The Daily Press has been pushing for reforms to the state's Freedom of Information Act due to wide exemptions such as this one. Publisher Digby Solomon said Monday that this case reminds him of a another situation, in James City County, where it took a lawsuit to reveal that an officer accused of excessive force had been disciplined before for temper and behavior issues.

"It's always dicey when authorities are allowed to self select what they give to the public," Solomon said. "When authorities invoke FOIA (exemptions) they are essentially telling taxpayers they don't have a right to know how their money is spent."

Chapman has released a fairly detailed account of what happened the night of Johnson's arrest, based on the separate criminal investigation. He has said Johnson did not present a false ID at a nearby bar shortly before his arrest, and he was not drunk in public.

The agents had reasonable suspicion that Johnson had a fake ID though, Chapman has said, because he was turned away from a bar after the owner closely scrutinized his ID. When agents went to speak to Johnson, he "avoided their interaction," Chapman has said.

He "pulled out of grasp and continued on" and "could have been prosecuted" for resisting, Chapman told the review panel examining ABC's police powers.

Accounts from 15 people who saw all or part of the arrest present "a very mixed picture" of how Johnson ended up on the ground. Video from shortly after the takedown shows him bleeding from the head and shouting, accusing officers of racism as one holds him down.

Six people said it seemed two officers fell with Johnson to the ground, Chapman said. Seven, including the officers themselves, said they were trying to restrain Johnson and "place him on the ground," but they "went down in an uncontrolled fashion," Chapman said.

Two people said Johnson was "slammed to the ground," Chapman said.

There was no evidence of racial animosity, Chapman said, and the takedown didn't seem to be malicious. The prosecutor said he'd like to see new ABC policies to de-escalate these situations, though, including new parameters for takedowns.

"All that is at issue is the possible existence of a false ID," Chapman told the review panel last month. "That is not worth wrestling over."

(c)2015 the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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