Virginia ABC Agents Assault Innocent Girl
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 8 months ago
A University of Virginia student is seeking $40 million from the state and seven Alcoholic Beverage Control agents who arrested her believing she had illegally purchased beer when she had bought bottled water.
Elizabeth K. Daly, 21, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Richmond Circuit Court, according to media reports. She alleges malicious prosecution, six counts of assault and battery and failure to appropriately train ABC agents.
On April 11, 2013, ABC agents confronted Daly outside a supermarket in Charlottesville. The agents believed Daly, who was then 20, was under the legal drinking age and had purchased beer.
Daly was charged with two felonies for grazing two agents with her vehicle.
Daly has said attempted to flee in a panic because the agents weren’t in uniform, one pulled a gun and another attempted to smash a window with a flashlight.
Daly spent a night in jail on felony charges of assaulting two law enforcement officers and eluding police. Prosecutors withdrew charges against Daly in June and her record was expunged in October.
In her lawsuit, Daly said she has suffered from a tremor in her right hand, intense anxiety and other problems since the confrontation.
As a result of the April 2013 incident, Daly and her parents “have incurred significant legal, medical, and other costs, and will continue to do so in the future due to the malicious, intentional” and negligent actions of the defendants, the lawsuit states.
A spokesman for Attorney General Mark Herring called the incident “incredibly unfortunate.”
Here is the summary. Virginia ABC agents in plains clothes brandished a weapon at an innocent victim and attempted to smash the window of an automobile, endangering the driver (and any occupants that might have been there) of lifelong blindness from shards of glass, all over what they thought was a beer. And the court officer notes this incident as being “unfortunate.”
Here is a modest proposal in an attempt to ameliorate the police state we have become. Every law enforcement officer, federal, state, county and local, in America wears a camera beginning immediately. The camera will be worn at all times when on duty by those who interact with the public (including LEOs from SWAT officers on to uniformed patrol), and failure to wear the camera will entail loss of job and deprivation of licenses issued by the state (such as driver’s license, hunting license, firearms license, etc.).
The video will be streamed to an independent third party, who releases the video upon request to any victim or his lawyer, and posts video of all violent encounters. Law enforcement officers can then be held accountable for the same crimes we would be, namely brandishing, assault, denial of constitutional rights, lying under oath, and any of a host of other crimes.
It would be a start.
On March 31, 2014 at 9:38 am, Josh said:
It should be a felony for an officer to interact with any citizen with the camera turned off.
On March 31, 2014 at 9:50 am, Paul B said:
Lots of money in that program. Looks full of fail to me. I would rather address this through the officer training and reduce the occurrence of the only one mantra. Decades of repetition of that mantra would have to cause someone to go out side the bounds of decency.
On April 1, 2014 at 12:56 pm, Josh said:
According to studies ( http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/california-police-body-cameras-cuts-violence-complaints-rialto ), use of force dropped by 60% and complaints dropped by almost 90%.
Stop with the MRAPs and BearCats, defund the NSA and you’ll be saving billions, AFTER putting cameras on cops. This is cheap hardware.
On March 31, 2014 at 7:50 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
How many incidents have we all heard about where police beat or shoot someone and collect all the cellphones of everyone they can see? I’m all for Herschel’s proposal.
But another thing I’d like to see, that I raised amongst some folks last century, (back when I worked in the legal profession) is a law that permits any attorney (i.e., an officer of the court) to bring evidence before a grand jury on behalf of an injured party, when there is evidence of a crime committed by federal, state, or local actors.
Ever wonder why so few LEO’s – even if caught on tape – ever gets prosecuted for criminal acts? It’s because it’s a conflict of interest. For example, the government is the “client” of a US
Attorney, or any DOJ lawyer. They won’t prosecute a government actor when they will have to defend a civil suit regarding the same actions.
In my version, after the “civilian” attorney presents evidence, If a true bill is returned, the same lawyer – or one of the injured party’s choosing – prosecutes the case, and gets paid the same amount that a local AG or AUSA gets paid – from government funds.
For example, if someone submits evidence of criminal acts committed by a fed to the FBI or local US Attorney, the US Attorney won’t prosecute. Why? Because he represents the state. If he prosecutes a federal agent, he will have to defend any civil action regarding torts committed by the same federal actor.
It’s a conflict of interest. The local AG won’t prosecute local police for a crime when it opens the
door for a lawsuit that said AG will have to defend.
I once even worked on language for a proposal. Couldn’t get a single lawyer I knew or worked with – even so-called “patriot” attorneys – interested.
Most people can’t afford to sue the state, local or feds. Thus, even if their lawsuit survives the first round, they’re broke.
Guess what folks – it’s hard to prevail in court over the biggest law firm in the world – the U.S. Department of Justice. You’ll have about as much luck with the state.
Justice is an old joke – it JUST IS. Where do I sign up for “Herschel’s Law?” Has a nice ring, eh?
On March 31, 2014 at 9:45 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Thanks Ned. And I’ve thought about the cost. Stop buying MRAPs and M4s for the cops and we may put a dent in the cost.
On April 1, 2014 at 1:02 pm, Josh said:
Make a profile picture for your comments already ; )
On August 30, 2014 at 5:42 am, MMinCC said:
That is a great idea