On March 19, 2015, certain special agents of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) were removed from active duty pending an administrative review of an incident in Charlottesville.
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The Virginia State Police (VSP), who did the investigation at the governor’s request, are also refusing to release the report: VSP is claiming the report is exempt from any mandatory disclosure law.
“Virginia ABC concluded that the agents did not violate agency policy and returned these special agents to active duty today”, the agency said on its website. The ABC said that training – which included hands-on and classroom instruction on use of force, cultural diversity, effective interaction with youth, and community policing – was completed last month.
Martese Johnson, left, speaks with reporters outside the Charlottesville General District Court with attorney Daniel Watkins after all charges against Johnson were dropped in June. However, the official investigation’s report will not be released to the public.
However, testing later proved that he was not under the influence and Johnson maintained he presented his own state ID card.
Chapman has released a fairly detailed account of what happened that night. Undercover agents surrounded Elizabeth Daly’s vehicle, one pulling a gun and another trying to break her windshield with a flashlight.
The Johnson incident came two years after another U.Va. student was arrested outside a supermarket by ABC agents who mistook a carton of sparkling water for beer.
Due to the incident the ABC is coordinating training sessions with law enforcement agencies that handle communities with college students.
Campus binge drinking rates were found to be 31 percent lower in states with four or more laws targeting high-volume sales of alcohol, according to a 2005 Harvard study.
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Johnson is not surprised with the outcome of the administrative review, however he is frustrated it is being kept secret from the public. A spokeswoman for Watkins said that he did not have a comment about the ABC agents returning to normal duties Monday.
