U. of Virginia student jailed after undercover agents mistake water for beer

Overzealous police? That's a new one.

 

Misleading title as she evaded police and apparently assaulted them as she ran away.

Just being cautious.... maybe. But the thread title makes it sound like some stupid cop kept her overnight for having water.

 

Alright, what the ****? Really? Because you suspect a 20 year old student of buying booze, you need pretty much a battalion of police officers to handle some students? And you pull your goddamn gun? Were they just ****ing bored out of their minds?

 

This is so relateable it hurts.

I have no idea why any law officer was pulling out their gun. She shouldn't have driven off, but it sounds to me like her and her friends thought they were getting robbed or something. If the officers had approached them calmly and without threatening violence, that might not have happened.

One dumb decision leads to another dumb decision.

 

Never ever trust law enforcement or cops in general.

These six cops not only should be fired, they should be arrested and brought up on assault, illegal imprisonment/detention and at the least, abuse of power.

Scumbags.

 

All it should have taken is one "Agent", approaching the car, showing his batch and asking for the students ID. Not seven, armed with guns, and jumping on hoods, because they suspected a minor of buying beer.

I pretty much have to agree with this comment.

 

I feel like with most Yahoo! articles, there is a lot of information missing here. As it stands, I don't know why an operation like this needs to be an undercover op. Have your badge out, walk up to the girl, identify yourself as police and ask for ID. I mean seriously, you would think she was dealing explosives or something.

 

As a French it always makes me smile when I read that 18+ y/o are still being bothered by the police for buying alcohol, let alone water

 

"La Croix? That must be French beer. GET HER!"

 

Lol, La Croix over here is a detergent brand ( to clean bathroom etc ).

 

In other words, American beer.

 

When it's beer, you are even allowed to drink it at 16, over here.

 

Nope, American beer is water for us ( I look at you budweiser ).

 

So why did the police bothered this poor girl ? ( assuming you are American )

 

No, German.

 

Les Etats-Unis, c'est l'enfer.....

(J'ai vécu à Paris depuis deux ans. Mon français n'est pas toujours grand, mais j'essaie.)

 

I fully disagree with this. She found herself surrounded by a group of volatile individuals who not only branded firearms, but were also trying to assault her inside her car, all while failing to properly identify themselves as officers (not to mentioned failing to ACT as such). In that situation, she was not only within her right to drive away, but removing herself from that situation and calling 911 like she did was the absolute right thing.

These agents not only failed to properly identify themselves, but acted with excessive force grossly misplaced for the situation at hand, putting not only the girl in danger, but themselves and anyone near them in danger as well. What if this girl wasn’t an innocent? What if she or her friend where mentally disturbed and dangerous? Or hell, what if either of them or a passerby (justifiably) misunderstood the situation as an attack by armed thugs, and decided to step in the middle of the situation? And what if that Samaritan was armed?

People (including police) seem to forget that as citizens, we have the right to expect law enforcement to act professionally and logically for all situations, only using force (or the threat of) when the situation calls for it, not only to protect themselves, but the public as well. And as citizens, we have the right to require that they identify themselves properly before submitting to their requests, ESPECIALLY if they’re plain clothed, because ANYONE can walk up to you and quickly flash something that looks like a badge – it happens all the time, which is why police tell you to call 911 if you’re unsure of the identity of a cop who is approaching/interacting with you.

I'm glad the Commonwealth Attorney dropped the charges. This girl needs to sue, the agents need to be fired, and the ABC needs to be investigated as a whole for allowing people like this to work for them.

 

They way they approached her seemed rather callous. How is she supposed to differentiate between a real police badge and fake one. It sounds to me like they handled the situation poorly.

 

Down here in Miami, we've had a recent string of home invasions of people dressing up like FBI Agents entering homes. The police have come on tv and have said that you're within your rights to not allow cops into your house and to call 911 to send an officer to confirm if they're legitimate cops or not.

 

This, in quadruplicate!